The National People’s Party (NPP) believes that a changed scenario in the form of growing support for the party in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, The National People’s Party (NPP) believes that a changed scenario in the form of growing support for the party in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, coupled with a “team” of legislators joining its camp ahead of next year’s Assembly elections, will certainly boost its chances in the hustings. Better still, the Congress, its main rival in the NPP base of Garo Hills, is now a “divided house”, which will only help the party as it gears up for the polls to be held in February-March 2018. Wanwei Roy Kharlukhi, the state president of NPP, is confident that the NPP will lead the next government. A seasoned politician, Kharlukhi began his political career 30 years back with the Hill People’s Union, a regional party, followed by the United Democratic Party in the mid-1990s, the Nationalist Congress Party and subsequently the NPP, founded by the legendary Purno Agitok Sangma, in 2012.A former teacher by profession, Kharlukhi, now 60, says the face of the party after stalwart PA Sangma is his younger son and national NPP president, Conrad, and that a young leadership augurs well for the national party that has spread its reach to Manipur and Rajasthan.Saurav Bora caught up with the veteran politician at the NPP party office in Lower Lachumiere for an exclusive interview on Monday afternoon.
Here are the excerpts of the interview:
ST: How is NPP preparing for next year’s Assembly polls?
Kharlukhi: We are preparing to win and form the government. We have formed the block and district committees in many constituencies. …Things will be clear only in the last part of September.
ST: Will there be any pre-poll alliance. Any equation you share with BJP?
Kharlukhi: No, we are contesting alone. The way we see it, the situation, especially in Khasi and Jaintia Hills is very favourable for us this time, not to speak of Garo Hills, which is our base.
ST: How will you expand NPP’s network in Khasi Hills as it is considered a “Garo party”?
Kharlukhi: It’s only our political opponents who have labeled us a “Garo party”. That’s just a mere slogan. But we are recognized as a national party…we are in the government in Manipur… we have four MLAs in Rajasthan. I think the results of the elections early next year will put to rest all such slogans raised by our opponents.
ST: Seven legislators will join the NPP ahead of the polls while Congress leader Diverland Lyngdoh joined the party recently. Will it boost the party’s chances and how will it take on the Congress which is going all out to check the NPP in Garo Hills?
Kharlukhi: The MLAs joining our camp will certainly give us strength…Congress, to me, will not be a force any more…not after March 2018. It is a divided house. The way I read it, there is infighting in the camp.
ST: Is it possible that veteran leader Rowell Lyngdoh, who was removed as president of the Mawkyrwat Block Congress Committee, may shift allegiance to NPP?
Kharlukhi: That’s for the media to read… You have to wait till the last part of September to get the clear picture.
ST: How many seats will the party be contesting and how many do you expect to win?
Kharlukhi: We will be trying to contest 60 seats. However, we will field only “winnable” candidates… The party expects to cross 31 seats.
ST: UDP is in alliance with the Garo National Council (GNC) in Garo Hills. Will this affect the poll prospects of the party?
Kharlukhi: I don’t think so. They have lost every election. GNC had only won one seat, Chokpot, in 2013, but again they lost the by polls to Congress thereafter. The fight in Garo Hills will be only between the NPP and Congress.
ST: What is your assessment of the UDP-HSPDP alliance? Do you see regional forces gaining strength and having their say in the elections next year?
Kharlukhi: There will be an impact in Khasi and Jaintia Hills, but not to that extent.
ST: PA Sangma, the architect of NPP, was the guiding force all along. How will the party cope in his absence?
Kharlukhi: Sir (PA Sangma) had laid the foundation of the party. Now, I think the mantle has fallen on his younger son, Conrad, who has his supporters. People have appreciated his performance as an MP and an Opposition leader. Today, the face of the party is Conrad. So, I don’t think we will face difficulty. He (PA Sangma) is not there, but his image will remain with the party. In the 2016 Lok Sabha by polls for the Tura seat, NPP had swept the polls, winning 23 of the 24 Assembly seats. The CM had narrowly won his seat (Ampati).
ST: Will there be any chief ministerial candidate from your party?
Kharlukhi: No, we believe in democracy. MLAs are elected in a democracy.
ST: NPP national president Conrad Sangma has decided not to contest the Assembly? So will his sister Agatha join the fray?
Kharlukhi: I don’t know yet…We will decide. Already, James (Sangma) is in the fray.
ST: What will be the agenda of the party in this election?
Kharlukhi: We are preparing a mission document….where we will convey to the people about what we are going to do. It should come out by November-December. This will be like a contract between the people and the NPP. If we fail to live up to our commitment, our people will throw us out. But we believe that under a young leadership, we will be able to live up to their expectations.
ST: What are your views on the Mukul Sangma-led MUA government? How do you assess the present government’s performance so far?
Kharlukhi: (Laughs). I am very happy that chief minister Mukul Sangma is leading the Congress to ‘destruction’…(laughs) …by removing many leaders and making most of them accessible to us. Even if they don’t want to come, they have to join our party as they don’t have any alternative.
ST: Will the NPP be able to cash in on the anti-incumbency of the Congress?
Kharlukhi: Well…before the Lok Sabha by polls last year, the CM, while answering to a question from the media as to whether there will be a sympathy wave for the NPP (as PA Sangma had passed away that year), said, “No… people will vote for the development (under the Congress government) in Garo Hills”…. But his wife (Dikkanchi D. Shira) lost (in almost all 24 Assembly segments that make up the Tura Lok Sabha seat). …. (laughs)
ST: There was a grand alliance against the Congress in Assam. Why is such a strategy not working in Meghalaya?
Kharlukhi: Like I said, the contest in Garo Hills is between the NPP and Congress… In Khasi and Jaintia Hills, the politics is peculiar. It’s about the individual. Besides, village and clan politics play a big role. If you are a good candidate, you win. It’s the person who the people prefer and not the party. That’s why we have candidates from different parties winning elections almost every time.
ST: How do you assess BJP’s chances? The party has said it is trying to win 40 seats?
Kharlukhi: (Pauses)…BJP, if they play their cards well, may be, they will get between four and six seats.
ST: Lastly, what do you think will be the outcome of the elections next year?
Kharlukhi: Well … the Congress will never form the government…. (pauses)…The NPP will win and form the government. Since the 2016 Lok Sabha polls (when the NPP swept the polls decimating the Congress), we have strengthened our position in our base (Garo Hills). Secondly, with so many MLAs joining or poised to join the party, the scales have tilted in our favour this time.