GUWAHATI The merger of a regional political party has increased the number of MLAs of the National People’s Party (NPP) in Meghalaya to 28.
The NPP is three seats short of a simple majority in the 60-member Meghalaya House.
Led by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, the NPP won 26 seats— up from 19 in 2018— in the February 27 Assembly elections while the six-year-old People’s Democratic Front (PDF) won two.
Mr. Sangma, the national president of NPP, called the merger a marriage between the two parties after romancing for five years.
“The love story that began a long time ago has culminated in the wedding ceremony today (May 6). We see things from the same perspective and have same goals, visions, and ideas for our State,” he said after signing the merger document with PDF chief Gavin Miguel Mylliem.
Mr. Mylliem is one of the two PDF legislators. The other is the party’s working president, Banteidor Lyngdoh.
A merger document with conditions laid down by the PDF, such as implementing an inner-line permit (ILP), solution to the boundary row with Assam and recognising the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution was also signed by Mr. Sangma and Mr. Mylliem.
The ILP is a temporary travel document for Indians entering certain areas of the northeast. The system is currently in force in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland.
Stating that the NPP is one of the six national parties of the country, Mr. Sangma said it has seven MLAs in Manipur and a good network.
The NPP was also able to help the students who were stuck in Manipur. Any other political party from Meghalaya would not be able to provide this kind of support, he added.
Mr. Lyngdoh said the merger would not have been possible with just Mr. Mylliem and him deciding or wanting it but due to the support of the PDF’s general executive council.
On the two parties having gone against each other during the election campaign, he said: “There are no permanent friends and enemies in politics.”
