Shillong, Feb 17: The NPP is making efforts to capture more seats in 2023 from South West Garo Hills, the stronghold of Mukul Sangma by roping in Boldamgre TMC MDC Stevie Marak who has influence in both Ampati and Mahendraganj.
Marak joined the NPP on Thursday in the presence of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma at the party office here.
Marak was first elected on a Congress ticket and later joined the TMC.
Speaking reporters, Conrad said more and more leaders will be joining the NPP in the coming days.
He said all is not well in All India Trinamool Congress (AITC).
Conrad said, “His joining is very important and crucial for us as he has been a person who has worked in Ampati for many years. Marak is also a leader of the AITC and this reflects that there are lots of uncertainties within the AITC as we speak,”.
He claimed that lots of AITC leaders have contacted the NPP and expressed their willingness to join the party.
“We are confident that this is a process that will continue as we will see more and more leaders from different parts of the state joining the NPP in the coming days,” he said.
When asked, Conrad said people have seen the works of the MDA government and they are happy to support the NPP.
The chief minister said many leaders not only in Garo Hills but in Khasi-Jaintia Hills as well, are in touch with the party. “We are working hard to build up a good team,” he added.
Conrad said some cracks have appeared in the AITC. There is obviously tension within the party,” he said.
“To be very frank, differences are there in all the parties but one has to manage things so we have to wait and watch how things go but definitely there seems to be some cracks appearing and we will watch and wait and watch and see how the situation unfolds”, he added.
Ampati important
The chief minister said the NPP is working hard to open an account in South West Garo Hills district, and Ampati is significant for the party.
“This is because in South West Garo Hills, there are four constituencies and NPP does not have a single MLA. Therefore, as a party we have been working very hard to find a way forward and as I said try to at least win a few seats there. We are hopeful that with the entry of strong leaders and elected leaders and other people also who are supporting us, we will be able to perform better than what we did last time and as I said we will focus on South West Garo Hills, so we do hope that we’ll be able to definitely open our account and maybe get a few more numbers than what we think”, Conrad added.
