By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 29: The UDP has made it clear that although it is willing to run a joint candidate with the HSPDP in the Lok Sabha elections for the Shillong seat, the latter ultimately has the upper hand.
“We haven’t talked about that since I don’t know what the HSPDP is thinking,” UDP general secretary, Jemino Mawthoh told The Shillong Times on Sunday.
“We would welcome any other regional parties that would like to join with us. HSPDP and UDP have always been together under the banner of RDA, so we would like the two parties for the Lok Sabha elections as well,” he said.
In order to create a powerful regional force in Meghalaya, we welcome regional parties to join together, and we have a positive working relationship with the HSPDP that is still going strong. From now on, all discussions would also be conducted in cooperation with the HSPDP, he stated.
According to him, the UDP will first convene as a party before deciding when to schedule a meeting with the HSPDP.
When asked if running a shared candidate with the HSPDP would offer them more clout, he replied, “Yes. Unity will always make us stronger. It won’t go away because, if we discuss grassroots support and other things, we’ll get more people involved.”
“There exist domains whereby the HSPDP and the UDP exhibit complementary strengths. We should unite forces instead of doing it alone,” he continued.
“The HSPDP has a strong grassroots support, especially in the western side of the state, even though we have many MLAs and MDCS,” he stated.
Asked about the NPP, Mawthoh said, “No discussion has ever taken place and I don’t know what is in the mind of the NPP.”