HSPDP divided over PBM’s candidature
SHILLONG: HSPDP is now a divided house on the issue of supporting candidature of People’s Candidate Forum (PCF) nominee Rev PBM Basaiawmoit in the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the Shillong seat.
A section of the party leaders led by its vice president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit is putting pressure on the party president Hoping Stone Lyngdoh to support Rev Basaiawmoit.
However, Lyngdoh is not ready to succumb to any pressure tactics and maintains that the party is yet to take a decision in this connection.
“I have personally met him (Rev Basaiawmoit) and asked him if he would like to contest from my party. But he refused to do so stating that he is no longer associated with the HSPDP,” the veteran politician said during an informal interaction with the media here on Monday.
Lyngdoh said, “There is no justification to support someone who refuses to have any kind of association with the party”.
The HSPDP president said that the party election committee (EC), which was constituted recently, would take the final call whether to put up own candidate or support candidate fielded by other parties.
The party leaders, however, asserted that they had unanimously decided to support Rev Basaiawmoit.
“We have at least five meetings to discuss the matter. In all the meetings, all with one voice endorsed the decision to support Rev Basaiawmoit,” the party leaders said.
Contradicting their statement, Lyngdoh said that they had only two meetings where the issue to support Rev Basaiawmoit was discussed.
“But no decision was taken in those two meetings,” HSPDP president said.
Unconfirmed report suggests that the HSPDP chief wanted to field prominent city lawyer Finela L Nonglait from Shillong as the HSPDP nominee.
Lyngdoh was supposed to announce this before media at his residence in Oxford on Monday. However, a section of the party leaders opposed this proposal.
After learning about this development, majority of the leaders rushed to Lyngdoh’s residence to prevent him from making any announcement in this connection.