Trinamool to contest all 60 Assembly seats in Meghalaya in 2023 polls, says Abhishek Banerjee

The TMC became the principal Opposition party in the state after 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs switched over in November 2021

Days after facing defeat in the bypolls in Tripura, the Trinamool Congress on Wednesday announced that the party would put all its might and contest in all 60 Assembly seats in Meghalaya, in next year's Assembly polls.

"We will put all our might to take the National People's Party and BJP head on in Meghalaya in the 2023 polls. We will be putting up candidates in all 60 seats," TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee told reporters in Shillong, soon after launching a membership drive through missed calls in the run-up to the Assembly elections.

Banerjee also opened the party's state office in Meghalaya and interacted with party leaders in the state, including former CM Mukul Sangma, who along with 11 other Congress MLAs joined TMC in November last year.

In the 2018 Assembly elections, TMC did not win a single seat but the party suddenly became the principal Opposition party after 12 out of 17 Congress MLAs switched over in November 2021. "Sangma and others wanted to raise the people's voice and serve the people, but they did not get a platform. TMC is a platform and we will take both BJP and NPP head on. TMC is the only party which can take BJP head on. The NPP led by CM Conrad K Sangma is a mere proxy and has become a puppet of BJP. The BJP controls his government from Delhi and Gujarat. TMC will make sure that Meghalaya is run from Meghalaya after we have the new government in 2023," Banerjee said.

With two MLAs, BJP is a minor ally of the NPP-led government in Meghalaya. The five remaining Congress MLAs also extended their support to the NPP-led government.

Addressing the party workers in the Christian-majority Meghalaya, at the Central Library at Shillong, Bhattacharjee flagged the attacks on churches and the Christian community since 2019, when Narendra Modi government came to power at the Centre for the second term. "Over 1,000 incidents of such attacks on the Christians have happened since 2019. The attacks were carried out by fringe elements belonging to BJP. But no one has been punished by the government," he claimed. "The fight is not only for 2023. The fight is also for 2024 (Lok Sabha polls). In 2024, the democratic Sun of the country will rise in the East and the Northeast," he said.