SHILLONG, May 6: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma said People’s Democratic Front (PDF) and National People’s Party (NPP) got married on Saturday after romancing for five years.
“Today is the wedding ceremony but the love story began a long time ago. We see things from the same perspective and have same goals, visions and ideas for our state,” Sangma, who is also the NPP national president, said after signing the merger document with PDF chief Gavin Miguel Mylliem.
The PDF general executive council along with its two MLAs – Mylliem and party’s working president Banteidor Lyngdoh – formally and ceremonially merged with the NPP.
A merger document with conditions laid down by the PDF, such as implementation of ILP, solution to interstate boundary row, implementation of the roster system prospectively, recognition of Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution etc, was also signed by Mylliem and Sangma.
The CM said both parties shared a close relationship and understanding and he would often ask why they were still two different entities.
“For whatever political situation we were not able to come together but I believe God had a plan for us. It is He who brought us together. In spite of various challenges and circumstances, what should have happened long back happened today,” Sangma said.
NPP national vice president and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong termed the merger ceremony as wedding and the merger document as a “marital certificate”.
“What a wedding evening we have…Two persons signed the marital certificate and now, we become one,” he said, adding, “You need to understand that with oneness, we become stronger.”
Banteidor Lyngdoh said the merger would not have been possible with just Mylliem and him deciding or wanting it but due to the support of the PDF’s general executive council.
Talking about the two parties going against each other during electioneering, he said, “There are no permanent friends or enemies in politics.”
