SHILLONG: A crucial meeting of the coordination committee of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) to deliberate on having a ‘common candidate’ for Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats is scheduled for Monday.
The meeting is scheduled to be held at 5 pm. A Cabinet meeting is scheduled for the same day before the allies’ meet.
The MDA partners’ meeting gains significance in the wake of the differences among allies over common candidates.
The UDP had recently hinted that the coalition could become unstable if the coalition partners do not have a consensus on common candidates.
At the same time, the UDP had indirectly put a condition that the party, being one of the major allies, should be given an opportunity to contest from Shillong while the NPP should contest from Tura.
Meanwhile, a political leader who is supporting the alliance, said during an informal discussion with journalists that it would be “very difficult for the alliance to have a common candidate”.
It is feared that at the end, most of the political parties supporting the government will end up fielding their individual candidates in the Lok Sabha polls.
He, however, expressed confidence that even if the partners do not reach a consensus on the common candidate, there would be no threat to the alliance as it was evident before the Ranikor bypoll where the two major partners, NPP and UDP, fielded their own candidates.
