Congress chief Sonia Gandhi has summoned former Meghalaya Chief Minister and senior party leader, Mukul Sangma, for a meeting in New Delhi on Sunday following reports that the Opposition party may face "a Punjab-like crisis" in the hill state.
According to sources in Meghalaya Congress, Sangma and a few disgruntled MLAs are likely to meet Gandhi to discuss issues including AICC's recent decision to appoint Shillong MP Vincent H. Pala as the president of Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee. Sangma, 56, served as Chief Minister between 2010 and 2018 and is said to be upset and have felt sidelined with the appointment of Pala, the source said.
The 53-year-old Pala, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from Shillong, is also a senior leader in the party.
The source said Gandhi "chipped in" following reports on Friday that Sangma, who is also Leader of the Opposition in the 60-member Assembly and 13 other MLAs are likely to quit the party and join Trinamool Congress. Gandhi took the development in Meghalaya very seriously as it happened during the crisis in Punjab.
"Our future course of action will depend on the outcome of our meeting with Gandhi. But we sincerely believe that the matters raised by us can be sorted out," said the source in Sangma camp.
The Congress camp went into a huddle as Sangma reportedly met TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee in Kolkata recently.
Meghalaya has been a stronghold of Congress and it had emerged as the single largest party with 21 seats in the 2018 Assembly polls. The party, however, could not take the regional players on its fold following which the Conrad K. Sangma-led National People's Party (NPP) formed the government with the help of United Democratic Party, People's Democratic Front and BJP. NPP is part of the North East Democratic Alliance, a forum of BJP's regional allies in the region.
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