SHILLONG, SEPT 21: The United Democratic Party (UDP), the main ally of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government, today said it wanted a leader of the party should be the common candidate of the coalition from the Shillong Parliamentary seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha election to be held next year.
The Shillong Parliamentary seat is being represented by the opposition Congress leader Vincent H Pala for the past 10 years. However, the UDP claimed that the MDA has got a better chance from the constituency with the Congress already on a “downhill slide” in Meghalaya.
Speaking to reporters after the state election committee (SEC) meeting here on Friday, general secretary of the party Jemino Mawthoh said the meeting has resolved to propose that the MDA should set up common candidates from both Shillong and Tura parliamentary seats.
“However, we would also like to propose that the common candidate for the Shillong seat should be from the UDP while suggesting that let the Tura seat go to the National People’s Party (NPP) since we being the main parties in the coalition government,” he said.
Mawthoh however said that the UDP would further discuss the proposal with the other coalition partners to ensure the MDA wins from both the seats in the upcoming LS polls.
Asked, the general secretary admitted that he is one among the party leaders whose name have been proposed for the seat but said that the final decision would be taken after consulting with the MDA partners and after taking the views of the people.
“Because a common candidate should be someone who is acceptable by the people,” he said while informing that the name of Paul Lyngdoh, who is the working president of the party, was also proposed.
To another question, the UDP leader alleged that the Congress is on a downhill slide in Meghalaya and the recent resignation of its tallest leader DD Lapang will no doubt affect the party performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
“His (Lapang) resignation only indicated that the Congress is going downhill and is in total disarray and unorganized otherwise a leader of his stature would not have taken such a decision,” he said.
Whether the UDP would approach Lapang, a five times chief minister, Mawthoh said that the party would definitely meet the veteran leader soon to discuss on his resignation and if he would like to like to come to the group (MDA).
By Our Reporter
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