Shillong, Dec 21: Meghalaya Nationalist Congress Party, the splinter group formed after splitting the NCP in the state, has formally decided to join Congress, the largest partner in the ruling combine, Meghalaya Democratic Alliance. Confirming the move, Meghalaya Pradesh Congress president (MPCC) S C Marak said that the party's political affairs committee decided to accept the application of the MNCP to merge with his party.
Following the merger, the Congress strength in the 60-member House has gone up to 28.
The political affairs committee also decided to accept a proposal of merger from another outfit People's Democratic Movement (PDM).
Leaders of the PDM, which contested the last assembly elections in February but could not bag any seat, earlier this month decided to merge their outfit with Congress and approached the ruling party in this regard.
Six NCP MLAs, led by Cyprian R Sangma, decided to form MNCP after splitting the NCP and the development was announced by assembly Speaker Martin M Danggo in the House on December 15. The same day, four of the six were inducted into the D D Lapang government.
Subsequently on December 17, the speaker recognised the MNCP and allotted separate seats to it in the assembly. Bureau Report