SHILLONG: As Meghalaya prepares to welcome the New Year in a week’s time, the National People’s Party has claimed that it will gift the opposition Congress yet another political jolt in the coming year.
It may be mentioned that the year 2018 has been a roller coaster ride for the Congress in Meghalaya.
The party started the year on a low as it lost the Assembly elections and then lost a few of its senior leaders to the NPP besides the demise of one of its legislators.
Nonetheless, the party has been pulling itself up together and putting up a brave front.
Now with a lull of a few months before the Lok Sabha elections next year, Meghalaya NPP president, WR Kharlukhi, has warned that the Congress should brace itself for yet another “jolt”.
He, however, refused to divulge as to what kind of “jolt” the Congress will face.
When asked about the trouble the MDA coalition is facing to arrive at a consensus on a common candidate for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Kharlukhi said that it was not a difficult task and it would be done and that the alliance is strong enough not to be affected by it as it will last the full term and may even go beyond. On reports of UDP turning out to be a dominant force in projecting its candidate as the common MDA candidate, Kharlukhi rubbished the report as untrue and said that they are in constant touch with the UDP leadership.
The statement of the NPP state chief gains significance as in earlier instances the words of caution had proved correct.
The first was senior Congress Ranikor MLA, MM Danggo, joining the NPP and the next was senior and veteran party leader DD Lapang following suit.
Now all that remains to be seen is how big the jolt would be.
