SHILLONG, March 1: The United Democratic Party (UDP) is not in a haste to contest the Mawryngkneng bypoll and is testing the waters before taking a final call, party general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said on Monday.
“We need to do a survey and assess the ground reality. We are doing this exercise to get the real picture in Mawryngkneng,” he said after an interactive discussion with party leaders and workers in the constituency.
He said UDP will take a call after getting the inputs. “We are trying to assess the situation properly and not rush it,” he added.
Mawthoh admitted UDP is not as strong in Mawryngkneng as it used to be before it became a Congress bastion. “After the demise of David Nongrum, we don’t really know how the electorate will respond now or how strong the Congress still is there,” he said.
A decision would be taken at the right time after the assessment is done, he added.
Mawthoh made light of reports suggesting that the UDP would be contesting the bypoll. “I am not saying that as of now, but it all depends on the feedback from our grassroots workers,” he said.
On the upcoming GHADC polls, Mawthoh was upbeat about the UDP’s resurgence in the Garo Hills region. The party has rekindled sentiments among the people in the region, he said.
Asserting that the UDP is getting a good response because of being an offshoot of the All Parties Hill Leaders Conference that spearheaded the hill state movement, Mawthoh said: “Captain W.A. Sangma and many of the top leaders of the state who later joined the Congress were in APHLC. Since UPD is an offshoot of that movement, there is still a strong attachment with our party in the Garo Hills.”
The UDP general secretary said his party desired to be a part of the GHADC’s revival.
“We want to provide good governance and administration in the GHADC and to revive its functioning because we have heard about issues there.”
He also referred to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla’s advice for strengthening the autonomous district councils.
Mawthoh said his party discussed the upcoming GHADC polls. “The state election committee will sit again in a few days to decide the second list of candidates,” he added.
“We are going to field candidates in constituencies we are sure of winning,” he said.
“We have not had MLAs and MDCs from Garo Hills for a long time, but we are certain that we can open an account this time,” Mawthoh said.