Trinamool Congress sprung a surprise by winning five of 60 seats in its maiden Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh. This, when party chief Mamata Banerjee did not make even a single trip to the hill state.

“It is her (Mamata’s) charisma and ideology that has won us five seats in the state,” said Kito Sora, state unit president of Trinamool. “We could have won more seats if Didi had come, but that is a different matter,” said Sora.

The Trinamool had put up 26 candidates in its maiden election in the state. Kito Sora, however, is unsure of the role that Trinamool MLAs would play in the Assembly. “It is up to Mamata Didi. Our party is part of the UPA at the Centre. But if she thinks that we should play the role of a constructive opposition, we have no problem,” Sora told The Indian Express.

Of the five Trinamool candidates who have won, the most prominent is Laeta Umbrey, a former Congress MP and MLA, who defeated Pomaya Mithi, former chief minister and present Rajya Sabha member Mukut Mithi’s wife, in Roing. Umbrey polled 5,170 votes against Pomaya Mithi’s 4,337 in a direct fight.

For Kito Sora, however. the most significant victory is that of newcomer Karya Bagang, Trinamool’s only woman candidate, who defeated veteran Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Kameng Dolo at Chayangtajo LAC by 342 votes in a straight contest. While Bagang polled 3,674 votes, her veteran Congress rival got 3,332 votes.

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