SHILLONG, Aug 21: With the Congress’ clarion call to form an alternative government failing to elicit a propitious response, a little ray of hope seems to have now rekindled with United Democratic Party (UDP) general secretary, Jemino Mawthoh, on Saturday asserting that the party is not averse to joining hands with any party, or for that matter parties, for the sake of stability.
Earlier, Opposition leader Mukul Sangma had, in the wake of HNLC leader Cheristerfield Thangkiew’s killing, said that he would write to the NPP’s allies in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) on the need to form a new dispensation, alleging that Meghalaya is not in safe hands.
Mukul’s bid, however, fizzled out two days ago with the NPP allies indicating that they are keen on sticking to the MDA till it completes its term in 2023.
Even UDP senior leader, Bindo Lanong, had said that albeit the Congress had the longest innings in the state, it failed everywhere, be it tackling insurgency, resolving the boundary issue, improving economy and checking corruption.
Jemino, who is the general secretary the same party, however, has a different take on Mukul’s plea. He, while maintaining that the UDP is fine with joining hands with any party or parties for the sake of stability, questioned what kind of “combination” the Opposition was talking about.
“It is natural for the Opposition to make attempts to dislodge the government. We have seen this in the past and we are probably going to see in future too,” he said, adding, “Although we had aligned with the Congress earlier, we have aligned with the NPP and other parties this time.”
Stating that the party will always respect the mandate of the people, Jemino said that during 2013-2018, the UDP was happy to be in the Opposition and tried to play a constructive role. “We were not desperate then nor are we power-hungry…” he said.
“UDP right now has seven MLAs in the government, seven MDCs in the KHADC, seven MDCs in the JHADC, and we are trying our level best to provide stability with the three dispensations,” he added.