SHILLONG: With barely a month left for the Lok Sabha polls in Meghalaya, the opposition parties are still engaged in an exercise of quid pro quo to present a common candidate against Congress in the Shillong seat.
UDP has been keen on nominating its working president Paul Lyngdoh in the Shillong seat and the Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the party on Friday endorsed the decision. Still, UDP held back the formal announcement of Lyngdoh’s candidature and decided to wait for the decision of HSPDP and KHNAM to extend support to him.
Speaking to newsmen after the CEC meeting, UDP working president Bindo Mathew Lanong said that the sudden announcement of the Lok Sabha election date had political parties in a tight position. “The time is short so we had to hurry up and prepare ourselves for the forthcoming election,” he said.
The decision to select Lyngdoh as the candidate had been taken some time ago, he said, adding, “We are not in a position to make an official announcement today since we are in the process of negotiation with our like-minded regional friends like HSPDP and KHNAM.”
He said parleys were on with both HSPDP and KHNAM on the possibilities of having one common candidate. “We have also informed the two parties that we have selected Paul Lyngdoh. We have offered his name for their consideration and they have asked for time,” UDP working president said. UDP had requested HSPDP and KHNAM leaders to communicate to it their decision latest by Saturday.
HSPDP and KHNAM had, however, earlier decided to support the candidature of Rev. P.B.M. Basaiawmoit of Peoples’ Candidate Forum, a civil society group, but the aftermath of the KHADC elections had changed political equations, observers said. For, UDP had extended support to the candidature of HSPDP leader Ardent M. Basaiawmoit as the CEM of KHADC against the Congress and the crucial election to the post of CEM is slated on Saturday.
“Our offer must be viewed in the light of our decision to work together in KHADC with HSPDP supremo in the KHADC Ardent M Basaiawmoit as the leader,” Lanong said.
The other offices in the Council would be shared equally between the three regional parties, he said, indicating that KHNAM would not be left out in the cold either.
“We thought this coalition of all the regional parties in the KHADC is a platform of unity and togetherness which would put Congress on the sideline. This symbolic platform should have a distinct present in the parliamentary election also,” the UDP working president said.
“Under the principle of working together, the response would be positive. This is what we expect,” Lanong said, without mincing words.
Parrying the question what would happen if KHNAM and HSPDP asked UDP to support Rev. P.B.M. Basaiawmoit’s candidature in the Shillong Lok Sabha seat, the UDP denied, however, that it was making the support of HSPDP and KHNAM to Paul Lyngdoh’s candidature a precondition for UDP’s support to HSPDP in the KHADC poll. “We were concentrating on the formation of the Executive Committee. Why should we bargain? We accepted the verdict of the people that is why we have come together,” Lanong asserted. “We would definitely support the CEM candidature of ARPA in the election,” Lanong said.
While the CEM election would be held on Saturday morning, UDP had given HSPDP and KHNAM till Saturday evening to make up their minds about Paul Lyngdoh’s candidature, he pointed out. “Only after the deadline is over, we shall think afresh,” Lanong said.a