Sangma influence wanes in Garo Hills

The charisma of Nationalist Congress Party Purno A Sangma is on the wane in Garo Hills region of Meghalaya if the Lok Sabha results are any indication.

Sangma's daughter Agatha won the Tura Lok Sabha seat with the lowest margin of just 17,945 as compared to the margin of 99,855 she got during the by-election to Tura last year after her father returned to state politics.

Sangma who defeated her Congress rival Deborah C Marak in the poll failed to impress voters even as her low margin of victory has rung alarm bells among the rank and file of the NCP in the state who felt that "all predictions had gone wrong".

However, Ms Sangma put up a brave front saying "the low margin was due to the inability of my father to campaign for me extensively as he was busy with other political engagements in the state." She also said that this time round she tried to win on her own capacity. 

Deputy chief minister and senior Congress leader from Garo Hills, Mukul Sangma said that though the Congress could not win the seat, "it is a moral victory for the party".

Mukul who had contested against Purno Sangma in both the 2004 Lok Sabha elections including a by-election in 2006 for the Tura seat said that the former Lok Sabha Speaker's influence has eroded in the Garo Hills.

Interestingly, in the 2004, Purno Sangma had contested on a Trinamool Congress ticket had defeated Mukul by a margin of 72,763 votes and later during the by election in 2006, he retained the seat by a margin of over one lakh votes.    

On the other hand, the Congress candidate from Shillong parliamentary constituency Vincent H Pala  registered a record victory  margin of 1 07,868 votes against his nearest rival John Filmore Kharshiing of the UDP in a multi-cornered contest involving seven candidates. 

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the victory margin of Congress leader and Union Tribal Affairs Minister Patty Ripple Kyndiah was only 70,896 votes.  

"The victory has shown that the people of Khasi-Jaintia Hills have full confidence on the Congress" Chief Minister D D Lapang said.

Pala, a coal baron with a declared property of Rs 25 crore, attributed his victory to the hard work of Congress workers and the people's trust.