By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Post-poll alliance is a reality and not the pre- poll arrangement if one goes by the Meghalaya’s political history of the past few years since almost all the political parties in the State have different ideologies and stand.
Meghalaya’s convention is that before every Assembly elections, there are always talks about pre-poll alliances with like-minded parties, but when the election approaches they contest the elections separately.
The State is scheduled to go for assembly polls in February-March next year.
The Congress, which is the single largest party in the present Assembly, has no other option but to contest in all the 60 seats as the AICC always prefers to go it alone.
Though the NCP leader Robert Kharshiing approached the MPCC president DD Lapang to have a pre-poll alliance, he remained non committal considering the policy of the High Command to contest in all the seats.
The BJP has also made it clear that the party will go it alone in the Assembly polls putting up candidates in some selected constituencies.
The KHNAM president Pyndapbor Saiborne on Monday said that the party would not like to have any pre-poll alliance with any party.
The necessity to have a pre-poll alliance has arisen following the split in NCP with its legislators except two — Sanbor Shullai and Adolf Hitler Marak — merging with the newly formed National People’ s Party (NPP).
Both NCP and NPP had approached various political parties expressing the need to have a pre poll alliance.
The architect of NPP PA Sangma had even personally met the UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh and HSPDP supremo HS Lyngdoh to get their pulse on pre-poll arrangement.
While the UDP leadership is yet to take a call on this issue, the HSPDP leader said that the party was open to have a pre-poll alliance with any political outfits which can campaign for a Khasi-Jaintia state.
The UDP has already announced candidates for 38 constituencies which made it difficult for the party to have any pre-poll alliance with others.
The leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Conrad Sangma, who is representing NPP, on Monday said that the party was in a discussion mode on pre-poll alliance with many political parties .
“Things are moving in a right direction. We had discussion within the party and outside and also with other likeminded parties”, Sangma said. He, however, refused to divulge the names of the political parties which are keen to forge an alliance with the NPP.
However, the political parties, UDP, NCP, LJP and BJP have come together to take on the Congress candidate and Home Minister HDR Lyngdoh at least in Sohiong constituency.
Pre-poll scenario
Lone fighters: Cong,BJP, KHNAM
Final decision awaited: UDP
Open for alliance: NCP,NPP, MDP
Conditional support for Khasi-Jaintia state: HSPDP