Shillong, June 1: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamul Congress is trying to make fresh inroads into Meghalaya with Assembly elections just nine months away.

According to Trinamul Congress Meghalaya convener Debasish Batabyal, a series of consultations and meetings has been conducted since the past six months in the different districts of the state.

“Consultations have been going on with a large number of prominent personalities, including sitting and former legislators and members of the autonomous district councils and social workers for selecting the office bearers for Meghalaya,” Batabyal said.

He said an interim committee of members with a convener will be constituted to look into the party affairs in the state, till the full-fledged office bearers were selected.

“An office of the Trinamul, Meghalaya, will be opened shortly in Shillong and Tura,” Batabyal added.

However, this is not the first time that Mamata has attempted to float an unit of the Trinamul in the state.

In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Trinamul won in only two seats throughout the country — South Calcutta and Tura.

While Mamata won from South Calcutta, former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma was elected from Tura.

Purno Sangma defeated the current Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma in the 2004 polls.

While the former Lok Sabha Speaker polled 1,91,938 votes, Mukul Sangma managed to garner 1,19,175 votes.

However, Purno Sangma’s association with Mamata was short lived, as in 2006, he resigned from the Lok Sabha and contested on an NCP ticket.

He again defeated Mukul Sangma in 2006 by polling 2,20,024 votes against 1,18,848 votes garnered by the latter.

At present in the Northeast, the Trinamul has seven legislators in the Manipur, five legislators in Arunachal Pradesh and one in Assam.