UDP sceptical of Congress support

SHILLONG, Dec 26: The United Democratic Party (UDP) is sceptical about the decision of the state Congress to support the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.
The UDP is the second largest constituent of the NPP-led coalition.
“Any group or political party that thinks they need to support the government on important issues should be welcomed by any government of the day, but their intention should be genuine,” UDP general secretary, Jemino Mawthoh said Sunday.
He did not rule out the possibility of Congress, reduced to five MLAs after the defection of 12 to the All India Trinamool Congress, resorting to a political gimmick. “But the people cannot be fooled these days, he said.
Maintaining that the state has always faced myriad issues, Mawthoh said it is difficult to change things overnight. “We need to understand the ground realities while taking up the challenges in order not to fall behind in development,” he added.
He said the “blame culture” has to be stopped for making the state progress.
“As Meghalaya nears its 50th year of statehood, we need to understand where we stand in the context of the development in the country. Can we say the efforts in these 50 years have been wasted or we lost the opportunity to propel the state forward?” he asked.
Mawthoh said the state has had enough of “political actors” and one cannot play around anymore.