SHILLONG, Sep 2: The Voice of the People’s Party (VPP) is looking to revive the appeal of the regional parties of the 1970s as it approaches the 2023 Assembly polls with limited funds at its disposal.
VPP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit told The Shillong Times that the regional parties of the 1970s were able to take on Congress, a party known to spend on its election campaign massively.
Stating that VPP would uphold the true spirit of regionalism, he said the regional parties of the past barely had funds to contest the polls.
He said the VPP is in a similar position. “I know that the road ahead is not easy but we will fight the elections hard,” Basaiawmoit said. “Some of the regional parties seem to be following the trend of showing their strength. This is not what the regional parties are known for,” he said.
The VPP president claimed there is a demand to put up candidates from various constituencies in the state.
“But it is important to uphold the quality and principle of the party. We have to properly examine and scrutinise before giving tickets to the aspiring candidates,” he said.
Basaiawmoit said the VPP has already started the groundwork for the upcoming elections and is targeting 15-20 seats for putting up candidates.
He claimed North Shillong MLA, Adelbert Nongrum would be joining the VPP soon. We are not keen on bringing more MLAs into the party fold. We don’t want people joining us for a change of uniform. We want people who subscribe to our ideology, philosophy and principle,” the VPP president said,
On the much talked about unification of the regional forces in Meghalaya, he said it would never materialise when individual interests take precedence over public interests.
He gave the example of the HSPDP, of which he was the president, and the UDP for driving home the point.
