CM set for Tura campaign as NPP expects tough fight

SHILLONG/GUWAHATI: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma is all set for an “aggressive” campaign in South Tura from Sunday as NPP is not expecting a cakewalk in either of the two constituencies going to by-polls on August 23.
Sources in the party said Conrad, who has already left for Tura, would be camping there for a few days and come back to Shillong on August 14 for the Independence Day function.
Ministers from the allied parties will also campaign for Conrad in South Tura.
The by-poll is crucial for Conrad to keep the chief minister’s chair. Thomas A Sangma, the party’s national general secretary, said on Saturday, “We will be seriously fighting the elections. We don’t want to take the polls lightly… elections are not easy, not even for a chief minister or ruling party. It is definitely not going to be a cakewalk in the by-polls.”
Thomas, who is also the advisor to the chief minister, informed that Conrad had contested four elections so far and won two.
South Tura by-poll is witnessing a multi-cornered contest with Congress’s Charlotte W Momin and independents John Leslee K Sangma and Chris Kabul Sangma fighting against Conrad. Asked whether Meghalaya will come up with an exercise such as the National Register of Citizens update, the draft of which was published by Assam on July 30, the advisor said, “We are discussing the matter. We will do something to protect the interests of the residents of Meghalaya. Bonafide citizens of the state must be protected from any kind of harassment.”