SHILLONG: The hope for the regional parties to secure the Shillong Lok Sabha seat has brightened after the results of the district council elections, which has brought all the regional parties together.
Leaders of both the HSPDP and the UDP said that it was a positive signal for them to win the Shillong seat.
Speaking to reporters at Nongkrem after his victory meet, HSPDP leader Ardent Basaiawmoit said that the development after the district council elections is a good sign for them.
“We have to build up a strategy to win the seat,” Basaiawmoit said.
According to Basaiawmoit, the HSPDP has not fielded any candidate for the Lok Sabha election and the People’s Candidate Forum has already projected Rev. PBM Basaiawmoit to contest the poll. “We are ready to sacrifice by not putting up a candidate from the party since the intention is to work together,” he said.
UDP working president Bindo Lanong also observed that the regional parties should come together to play a bigger role in national politics.
“The Congress at the Centre at this time has seen the exit point from all the pre-poll predictions,” he added.
Congress to go all out against Modi
Meanwhile, the all India campaign committee of the AICC on Thursday decided to run an aggressive campaign against BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi by questioning his administrative acumen and questionable secular credentials, informs our New Delhi correspondent.
Several Congress leaders made this point at the first meeting of the 50-member election campaign committee called by party president Sonia Gandhi in the national capital on Thursday to elicit suggestions about the poll campaign. Both the party MPs from Meghalaya – Vincent H Pala and Wansuk Syiem – attended the meeting.
Although Sonia has personally announced that the Congress will not be declaring a prime ministerial candidate before the Lok Sabha polls, a number of speakers raised this issue at the meeting. It was pointed out that the Congress should declare Rahul Gandhi as its prime ministerial candidate as the Congress vice-president would then be taken more seriously by the media and the people, party sources said. Both Pala and Wansuk were not available for comments on the issue.
Sonia admitted that the Congress faces an uphill electoral challenge but urged the party to put up a united fight. She, however, underlined that the party’s election campaign should highlight the achievements of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.