SHILLONG, Jan 7: The National People’s Party (NPP) on Saturday got a much-needed shot in the arm after People’s Democratic Front (PDF) MLA Hamletson Dohling joined the party brought with him a ton of supporters, some of which include former PDF leaders Emlang Lytan and Ivanlumlang Marbaniang.
Dohling was formally inducted into the NPP during a programme at Umlyngka ground in the city on Saturday.
After welcoming the leaders into the party fold, NPP national president Conrad Sangma spoke at length about the hurdles faced by the state government in providing good governance.
“We faced numerous challenges when we had law and order problems — different incidents happened and different problems came up. We had challenges in terms of COVID-19 where the government could not function in a normal way for two years and major developmental projects had to be halted. We still moved forward and the government survived and delivered a large number of promises that we had made,” Conrad said.
He said the state government has been inclusive towards its coalition partners and the voices of all sections of society and works collectively against various issues and challenges.
Meanwhile, Dohling, in his address, said that the government had not only taken up the issues of Inner Line Permit (ILP), inclusion of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule and the issue of interstate boundary row with Assam but also worked upon them.
“It was only during the MDA regime under the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma that these issues were discussed in the cabinet,” Dohling maintained.
It was also revealed by Dohling that prior to joining the NPP, he had made it clear to the chief minister that there should be no uranium mining in the state.
Expressing hope that the NPP will win a good number of seats and form the government once again, Dohling said this will further enable them to ensure that pending issues of the state are pursued with the central government for their fulfilment.
It may be mentioned that Dohling, during the programme, was also declared as an NPP candidate from Mylliem constituency.
