The United Democratic Party (UDP) recently lost a tall leader in the person of Dr Donkupar Roy. He was the Speaker of the present legislature. Since political parties rarely encourage second rung leaders, the UDP now finds itself in a difficult situation of having to elect a leader with a stature that is equal to that of Dr Roy as Party President and also to project another MLA from the UDP for the post of Speaker. The UDP now has 6 MLAs with one Independent MLA having joined as Associate member who therefore cannot hold office in the Organisation. While the UDP has finalized the candidature of Dr Roy’s son from Shella Constituency, perhaps with the intent of winning sympathy votes, the Party still has to contest and win the elections, which could go either way. Dr Donkupar Roy has always won by a slim margin of between 300-400 votes. In the last election he scored over Leston Wanswett of the Peoples’ Democratic Front (PDF) by just 270 votes. Going by past experiences, although the PDF is part of the MDA coalition, it is unlikely that they will not put up a candidate from Shella Constituency, considering that the margin of loss the last time around was very slim. The Congress too will put up a fight. So the UDP has to put up a spirited contest to regain this seat.
Dr Roy first won the Shella seat in 1988 and has never lost it since. It will be interesting to see if his son pulls the same amount of weight. What is more crucial for the UDP now is to have a leader that can lead the Party to victory. That there are many applicants for the post of Party President in the UDP is both good and bad. In a democracy it is good to have several contenders for every post including that of Party President. Let people choose the best, most capable leader who can lead the party to victory. This is something that the Congress Party at the national level has never dared to do. Besides, a new leader might be able to provide a new vision for the 21st century when many young people are keen to join politics. The downside is that the incumbent leader should be a person who is not averse to serving the Party in right earnest. Leadership is no cakewalk. Leaders whether in politics or society have to walk the talk and should be willing to serve rather than be served. The UDP therefore has an opportunity to spruce up the Party and give it a new direction.