Shillong, June 4: The NPP today admitted that the defeat in both Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats is a major setback to the party.
While speaking to reporters on the outcome of the two Lok Sabha seats, the NPP candidate from Shillong Parliamentary seat, Ampareen Lyngdoh said that of course it is a political setback for the NPP which is heading the ruling MDA coalition Government in the State.
“Why would you even deny that? The point that I am trying to make across here is a setback of two Lok Sabha seats. But we have seen the pattern in the state of Meghalaya that the vote in the Lok Sabha election does not usually follow the pattern of votes in the Assembly election. But nevertheless let this be the writing on the wall. This is a strong warning to the MDA,” Lyngdoh who is also a Cabinet Minister in the MDA Government stated.
The NPP candidate said that she sincerely hopes that government will be able to find a mechanism to evaluate this huge defeat that they have faced.
“And I hope that we will be able to figure this out and give better governance to the people. It is important to govern the people and this kind of an upset is now being seen across India. So democracy requires a strong opposition,” she said.
Meanwhile, Lyngdoh said that the outcome of this election is an indication that the government cannot do whatever it likes.
“This defeat against the MDA shows us that we need to make sure that we understand what the public feel about what you want to do,” he said.
She also observed that a lot of MLAs have actually lost their ground in this Lok Sabha election.
Stating that people will judge and many people will boo them, the NPP candidate said that it should not be a problem since they are leaders who are born to take this kind of a beating.
Lyngdoh advised the MLAs to go back and figure out what’s happening in their respective constituencies.
“Make sure you do your work. If I can motivate my colleagues in the MDA just to do that much, then this result will only be a hard lesson learned. I will try to motivate my colleagues in the MDA to do that,” she said.
When asked this euphoria in favour of the VPP is going to last, she said that it is not for her to take a call on as to whether a frenzy of this nature can last.
“I refrained from giving my opinion. It is not politically correct to also pin people down after they have won,” she said.
According to her, this defeat is also an indication that whatever the government have done seems to have gone wrong.
“We have to soul search and figure this out. And we could not be hostile and angry. I wish that no member of the government in the MDA taking this in a wrong way,” she said.
The NPP candidate said that she hoped this trend would not spill over to the Assembly election adding.
She however said that it is a warning for all the MLAs who are sitting in the Legislative Assembly and not part of the VPP.
Meanwhile, Lyngdoh said that she accepted this defeat and the landslide win of the VPP with a very humble heart.
“And I wish the VPP the very best to be able to deliver its promise because it’s very difficult in these kinds of situations to have these kinds of wins,” Lyngdoh said.
She said that she believes that everything is written and it is not meant for her to go to Delhi.
“I put a lot of efforts and may be people do not like me or my party. We have to do soul searching and we need to find out where we are going wrong. Why are people so angry with us?,” the NPP candidate said.
Lyngdoh also said that she would like to thank all her supporters since she manages to get more than 1 lakh votes.