UDP calls for unification of regional parties

SHILLONG, April 21: The UDP has reiterated its call for the unification of the regional parties.
UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said the party would have fared better in the last Assembly election if the regional forces were not divided.
“We would have emerged as a strong regional force in the Lok Sabha polls if we had stayed united,” he said responding to a query about the RDA and the VPP sharing the anti-Congress and anti-NPP votes in the Shillong Parliamentary seat.
“Let’s look forward to strengthening (regional forces) and articulating regional aspirations. The regional parties and the national parties in the state have more or less the same issues and agenda. The only difference is the uniform. This is how I see it,” Mawthoh said.
He said there is also a need to understand the Centre-state relations.
“If we are a strong force in the state, then no matter who is in power at the Centre, we would be able to somehow run and manage the affairs of the state by understanding the local dynamics,” Mawthoh said.
But if the regional forces continue to remain divided, then it will not augur well for the state, he said. He lamented that the UDP could not unite the regional parties despite efforts.
Mawthoh said the UDP and the HSPDP managed to sail together under the umbrella of the Regional Democratic Alliance.
“We would like others, who feel the same, to come on board,” he said.
“There will be further division with the emergence of new political parties,” he said as he tried to indirectly make an appeal to the VPP to come and help realise the unification dream.
Mawthoh said it was unfortunate to see the leaders of political parties spewing venom at one another during the recent Lok Sabha poll campaign in the state.
“It has brought in a culture which is not pleasant. It has given a negative perception of the state’s political culture,” he said.
He said UDP and HSPDP leaders and workers restrained themselves from resorting to mudslinging and character assassination during the election campaign.