Shillong (Meghalaya): Ex-Congress man and now the leading Trinamool Congress leader in Meghalaya, Mukul Sangama is confident of securing a majority in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. In an interview with the Indian Express, he alleged that the Assam-Meghalaya border pact was an agreement between two anti-people governments, which overlooked the sentiments of the masses.

“Look at the Northeast Reorganisation Act (1971), which mandated the demarcation of the border — based on which the Survey of India demarcated the inter-state boundary. Even at that moment, the leaders of the state did not accept the demarcation.

“The people did not accept this demarcation… All land in Meghalaya belongs to the people, not the government. So what is the agreement based on? The areas of differences remain,” he told Indian Express.

Mukul crossed over to the TMC, along with 11 other MLAs, in November 2021 flipping the state’s political equation, making the Mamata Banerjee-led party the principal Opposition in the blink of an eye.

In the current election campaign, he has emerged as a principal adversary to Chief Minister Conrad Sangma-led National People’s Party (NPP).

When asked to comment on the previous instances of fractured mandate in the state, he exhorted confidence that the people of Meghalaya will unite to prioritise the interest of the state over other things and he has no reason to believe that TMC won’t have the numbers.

“I have reasons to believe in the resolve of the people to put the interests of the state before anything else…Therefore, they will unite, they will come together to bring a change. The overall job as a political party is to see that we keep on reminding the electorate about this – and this is what we have been doing… I have no reason to believe that we (TMC) won’t have the numbers,” Sangama told the Indian Express.