Will Rahul’s visit be able to stop disintegration of Congress in poll-bound Meghalaya?

Congress president Rahul Gandhi is all set to visit Meghalaya on Tuesday.

Shillong, Jan 29: All is not well with the ruling Congress in Meghalaya just ahead of the state Assembly elections next month.

The Congress has witnessed a mini-rebellion of sort after five of its MLAs resigned from the state Assembly and joined the National People's Party (NPP) and two other legislators moved to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the newly formed People's Democratic Front (PDF).

Amid all these losses, Congress president Rahul Gandhi is all set to visit Meghalaya on Tuesday. He will be in Shillong, the capital city of the state, for two days. During his two-day visit, Rahul will not attend any public rallies or events.

He is said to be spending the time meeting party colleagues and workers to strategise the Congress' roadmap for the elections.

The hill state in the Northeast region is going to vote for the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly on February 27. Along with Meghalaya, two other states in the Northeast India too are going for polls.

While the Assembly elections in Tripura are scheduled on February 18, Nagaland is voting with Meghalaya on February 27. The counting of votes in all the three states will take place on March 3.

In fact, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the state in December last year. He is likely to campaign for the BJP in the state in the coming days too. The saffron party is trying hard to win the polls in Meghalaya, after coming to power for the first time in the region in Assam in 2016 and in Manipur last year.

However, the BJP, the party known as a Hindu outfit, does not resonate well with the voters in the Christian-dominated state. Last year, the party faced flak in the state for planning to introduce pan-India ban on the sale of cattle for slaughter. The Congress, on its part, is facing anti-incumbency in the state.

OneIndia News