Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of “usurping power in Meghalaya” with two seats through a proxy. The Congress president took to twitter to make a statement about his party’s loss.
“Like in Manipur and Goa, [the BJP] has shown utter disregard for the mandate of the people,” Gandhi tweeted. “[Instead the BJP is ] obsessed with grabbing power and using big money to create an opportunistic alliance.”
Gandhi said his party was committed to win back the trust of voters in the North East. In his first statement since his party failed to form the government in the three states of Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland where elections were held in February, Gandhi thanked party workers and said he respected the mandate.
In Tripura and Nagaland, the Congress could not win a single seat. In Meghalaya, it was the single-largest party with 21 seats, but was left behind by the regional National People’s Party in the race to get support of enough legislators to form the government.
The National People’s Party, at the second spot with 19 seats, now has the support of an independent MLA and 14 from other parties, including two from the Bharatiya Janata Party. NPP leader Conrad Sangma will take oath as the chief minister on Tuesday.
Saving Meghalaya was crucial for the Congress as it was one of only two states in the North East where the party is in power. Now, the Congress is left with a government only in Mizoram.
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