MDA faces uphill task to find common candidates for Lok Sabha polls

SHILLONG: While the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) is trying to project common candidates for the next year’s Lok Sabha elections from both Shillong and Tura seat, it will be a herculean task for the alliance to bring all the partners on board for finding consensus candidates.
While the UDP has made it clear that they want to project their leader as the common candidate from Shillong constituency, the NPP is yet to pronounce its stand on the matter.
In response to a question on the idea of having a common MDA candidate for the Tura and Shillong Lok Sabha seats,  Home Minister and NPP leader,  James Sangma said that they were yet to decide on it as the agenda had not yet come up in any of the MDA meetings and it would be a collective decision.
On the other hand, BJP leader, AL Hek  maintains that the party should put up its own candidate for the Lok Sabha elections from both Shillong and  Tura seat.
He, however,  said that the decision to field a candidate or  to support the common candidate of the MDA depended on the central leadership of the party.
“Common candidate should be selected from an understanding with all like-minded parties and it should not be one-sided,” Hek said.
The other allies of the MDA including HSPDP, NCP and Independents are yet to make any statements as to whether they will support the idea of a common candidate or not.