<p>The NCP in Meghalaya today merged with National People’s Party (NPP), a newly-formed outfit formed by P A Sangma.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sangma, who had resigned from NCP as its General Secretary and unsuccessfully contested the Presidential poll against Pranab Mukherjee last month, would be NPP’s president.<br />Altogether 13 out of 14 NCP legislators, including two of Sangma’s sons Conrad (leader of opposition) and James Sangma, backed their father.<br /><br />However, Sangma's daughter and Union Minister Agatha Sangma and lone Rajya Sabha member from Meghalaya Thomas Sangma are still with NCP.<br /><br />"Once I was considered one of the most powerful men in Congress... Yet I quit that party not for any bigger post but for my principle," Sangma said while addressing the formal launch of the new party in the state.<br /><br />"I am joining NPP on my principles," he said.<br />The former Lok Sabha Speaker was expelled from Congress, together with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999, for opposing Sonia Gandhi’s Prime Ministerial aspirations citing her foreign origin.<br /><br />"I said back then only an Indian by birth should be the Prime Minister of the country and I stick to my principle," he said.<br /><br />Sangma, Pawar and Anwar later formed the NCP in 1999 but differences surfaced in the new outfit and Sangma for a brief period merged the Meghalaya NCP with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamol Congress in 2005 before returning to Pawar-led NCP.<br /><br />Sangma said he was faced with this dilemma of taking forward the aspirations of millions of tribals who wanted to see a tribal president.<br /><br />But his party threatened him of disciplinary action if he contested and so he quit the party "by listening to my conscience."</p>
<p>The NCP in Meghalaya today merged with National People’s Party (NPP), a newly-formed outfit formed by P A Sangma.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Sangma, who had resigned from NCP as its General Secretary and unsuccessfully contested the Presidential poll against Pranab Mukherjee last month, would be NPP’s president.<br />Altogether 13 out of 14 NCP legislators, including two of Sangma’s sons Conrad (leader of opposition) and James Sangma, backed their father.<br /><br />However, Sangma's daughter and Union Minister Agatha Sangma and lone Rajya Sabha member from Meghalaya Thomas Sangma are still with NCP.<br /><br />"Once I was considered one of the most powerful men in Congress... Yet I quit that party not for any bigger post but for my principle," Sangma said while addressing the formal launch of the new party in the state.<br /><br />"I am joining NPP on my principles," he said.<br />The former Lok Sabha Speaker was expelled from Congress, together with Sharad Pawar and Tariq Anwar in 1999, for opposing Sonia Gandhi’s Prime Ministerial aspirations citing her foreign origin.<br /><br />"I said back then only an Indian by birth should be the Prime Minister of the country and I stick to my principle," he said.<br /><br />Sangma, Pawar and Anwar later formed the NCP in 1999 but differences surfaced in the new outfit and Sangma for a brief period merged the Meghalaya NCP with Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamol Congress in 2005 before returning to Pawar-led NCP.<br /><br />Sangma said he was faced with this dilemma of taking forward the aspirations of millions of tribals who wanted to see a tribal president.<br /><br />But his party threatened him of disciplinary action if he contested and so he quit the party "by listening to my conscience."</p>