SHILLONG: Deputy Chief Minister and NPP leader, Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday said the decision on the common candidate for the Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats will be decided by the Coordination Committee (CC) of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA).
Tynsong said, “It will be the best thing if we manage to have a common candidate. But it will be premature to discuss on this issue since it is the coordination committee which would take a final call”.
When asked about the Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) which has insisted that the regional parties should be given an opportunity to contest from Shillong Parliamentary seat, Tynsong said let the regional parties propose the name of the common candidate before the coordination committee.
“As per my information, both the UDP and HSPDP are planning to submit the name of the common candidate to the committee. Let us wait since there are possibilities that even the PDF would be proposing its own name for the common candidate,” Tynsong said.
He added that there might be other allies in the MDA who would be proposing the name of the common candidate for Shillong and Tura.
Tynsong, however, said that he would not like to comment on the suggestion that the regional parties should be allowed to contest from Shillong on the ground that the NPP will be allowed to contest from Tura.
“We will have a detailed discussion on all the issues concerning the common candidate in the meeting of the coordination committee,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, the RDA had decided to impress upon the allies in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance to give the regional parties the opportunity to set up the common candidate from the Shillong Parliamentary seat.