SHILLONG: Union Minister of State for Tourism, Alphons Kannanthanam stated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would recommend the name of party candidate from Sohra only on the basis of preference of the people of Sohra.

“We will recommend whoever the people of this place choose, if the people of this place, Sohra, choose somebody or show a preference for somebody, he will certainly be the candidate,” he told reporters at the end of a public meeting held at Maraikaphon in Sohra on Thursday.

Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson, Nalin Kohli commented on the prospect of one of the BJP aspirants and former MLA, PW Khongjee as an established leader and mentioned that he had lost the last election narrowly. “He joined the party recently and is one of the leading aspirants,” he said.

“We are here to assess and carry the message to the central leadership and obviously we do lay a lot of credence and importance to those who already had a track record of serving the people….one who has got elected, he is a very leading candidate for us,” he added.

He stated that the public meeting at Sohra, Maraikaphon was successful as people came to attend the meeting even on a working day.

Kohli informed that though the announcement candidate for any seat would be made only by the Central election committee, surveys were being conducted and the party would pick up those who were most winnable candidates.

Falling back on the BJP success in North Eastern states of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Nagaland, he said, “We believe the people of Meghalaya want a government that will bring development, roads, employment, education, health and most importantly revive the economy whether in terms of coal, limestone, industry keeping the protection of the environment.”