UDP to discuss NPP’s LS plan

SHILLONG: The NPP’s decision to field candidates in both the Lok Sabha seats in the state in the upcoming elections has sent alarm bells ringing in the UDP, a major ally in the MDA government.
UDP working president Bindo Matthew Lanong on Monday said that the party will soon meet to discuss the recent statement made by National People’s Party national president and Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that the party wants to put up candidates in almost all the Lok Sabha seats of the North East.
Lanong said that the matter has been already taken up with party president Donkupar Roy and once he comes, the party will meet and discuss.
Lanong said that if the regional parties want to defeat the Congress and the BJP there was a need to have a “positive mind” and a “spirit of give and take”, but if all the parties fight against  each other, it would be difficult to win.
While the MDA Coordination Committee is yet to take a final call on the idea of common candidates, UDP has already projected former MLA Jemino Mawthoh as the common candidate for Shillong.
Meanwhile, UDP vice-president, Allantry Franklin Dkhar, said that UDP and the NPP will work together to form the Executive Committees (ECs) in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) and the Jaintia Hills Autonomous District Council (JHADC).
Lanong said that the UDP and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) are already in a pre-poll alliance and his party prefers to work together with regional parties.