SHILLONG, May 3: The battle of ballots for the Sohiong Assembly seat is fast turning into a political hot potato with the NPP and the UDP, the two chief constituents of the MDA 2.0 coalition, engrossed in a game of political one-upmanship.
The UDP’s recent assertion that the political scenario in the state will change post declaration of results for the Sohiong seat on May 13 has not gone down too well with the NPP. In a retaliatory tone, the NPP has spoken about dropping the UDP from the MDA.
NPP spokesperson Bajop Pyngrope was the first to announce the ruling party would not hesitate to remove the UDP from the MDA equation. The same has now been endorsed by NPP state president WR Kharlukhi who said the UDP should be dropped from MDA 2.0 if it really wants an alternative government.
He told reporters on Wednesday that they are hearing that the UDP is saying during its Sohiong by-election campaign that there is going to be a change in the government after the polls.
According to him, the statement of the NPP spokesperson that they will ask the UDP to sit in the opposition was a reaction to the statement made by the party.
“If you shoot us with one arrow, we will have to shoot with another arrow,” Kharlukhi, who is also a Rajya Sabha member, said.
Stating that if the UDP has that mentality to take the government away from the party, he said it is quite natural that they will throw them (NPP) out since after the recently-concluded Assembly election, they had tried to keep NPP out of the government.
“But the UDP did not succeed and we were able to form the government. We gave them two ministers since they came begging to us. Even if the UDP is out, it will not affect the government,” Kharlukhi said.
Asked if the political situation will change after the Sohiong by-polls, the NPP state president said, “Something is going to happen for sure, big or small.”
Meanwhile, he said it will be an addition if they succeed in bringing the PDF on board.
“As it is today, I am confident we are going to win Sohiong,” he added.
