GUWAHATI: The National People’s Party has said the party would decide its nominee for the Tura Lok Sabha constituency in due course even as Agatha Sangma’s name is doing the rounds after Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s decision to resign from the parliamentary seat next week.
Speaking to The Shillong Times on Thursday, NPP national general secretary Thomas A Sangma said since there would be no by-poll once the seat is vacated, the party would decide on its nominee for the LS seat “only in due course”.
Election department sources said parliamentary seat poll will be held simultaneously with the general elections next year.
The Meghalaya Congress too has not taken any decision on its future course of action in this regard.
Asked whether there was plan to nominate anyone from the party for the Lok Sabha seat, Meghalaya PCC president Celestine Lyngdoh echoed similar views.
“I don’t think there will be any by-election to the seat now and the general elections are more than six months away from now,” Lyngdoh said, hinting that there is time for the party to decide on its nominee.
It was in May 2016 when Conrad K Sangma had won the Tura LS seat by a huge margin to retain the constituency held by his illustrious father, Purno A Sangma.
Conrad, who had in fact taken the reins of NPP following the demise of his father earlier that year, had defeated his lone rival, the then chief minister Mukul Sangma’s wife Dikkanchi D Shira by the highest margin by which the Congress has ever lost in the parliamentary elections in the state.
Going by the grapevine, the NPP is likely to field Agatha while the Congress may nominate Mukul’s son-in-law and Ampati MLA Miani D Shira’s husband Daryl William Momin to contest the parliamentary seat. Back in 2014, Daryl had lost the election to the LS seat to Purno A Sangma.
Tura and Shillong are the two LS seats going to the hustings along with the general elections in April-May next year.
The Shillong parliamentary seat is currently held by Vincent H Pala of the Congress.Speculations over Pala planning to defect to NPP surfaced after his visit to the NPP at Lower Lachumiere on Monday. Pala visited the NPP office hours after the declaration of the results of the twin by-elections in Ranikor and South Tura, thereby prompting the rumours.
However, Pala has reportedly ruled out any plan to join NPP, saying he would contest the LS seat from Congress.
