GUWAHATI: The merger of a regional political party has risen the number of MLAs of the National People’s Party in Meghalaya to 28.

The National Peoples Party is three seats short of a simple majority in the sixty-member Meghalaya House.

In the February 27 Assembly elections, the NPP, led by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, gained 26 seats, up from 19 in 2018, while the six-year-old People's Democratic Front (PDF), won just two.   Sangma, the national president of National Peoples Party, termed the merger a marriage between the two parties after romancing for five years.

"The marriage ceremony on Saturday marked the end of a long-ago love story. Following the signing of the merger agreement with PDF leader Gavin Miguel Mylliem, he said, "We see things from the same perspective and have the same aims, visions, and ideals for our State.

Mylliem is one of the 2 PDF legislators. The other is the party’s working president, Banteidor Lyngdoh.  Sangma and  Mylliem also signed a merger document that included requirements set forth by the PDF, including the implementation of an inner-line permit (ILP), resolution of the boundary dispute with Assam, and inclusion of the Khasi language in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule.

For Indians accessing specific northeastern regions, the ILP serves as a temporary travel document. Currently, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, and Nagaland all use the system.

Sangma said that the NPP is one of the six national parties in the nation and that it has a strong network and seven MLAs in Manipur.

The students who were stranded in Manipur could potentially receive assistance from the NPP. He stated that no other Meghalayan political party will be able to offer this level of support.

The merger  would not have been possible without the backing of the PDF's general executive council, which was not just  Mylliem and him who decided or wanted it.

In response to the two parties' opposition to one another during the election campaign, he stated: "There are no permanent friends and enemies in politics."

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