SHILLONG, June 17: The United Democratic Party (UDP) has lashed out at the Voice of the People Party (VPP) for its recent prediction that the UDP will become politically irrelevant by the 2028 Assembly elections.
UDP working president, Paul Lyngdoh, dismissed the VPP’s forecast, describing it as speculative and not rooted in credible political analysis.
He sarcastically questioned the credentials of VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh, who had earlier dubbed the UDP “a spent force in the making”.
“I think one of our senior leaders has already responded to the statement made by VPP. I can only say this: when it comes to elections, there is a scientific study called psephology. Now, whether the spokesperson of the VPP is a qualified psephologist or not is something I would like to know,” Lyngdoh said.
The UDP leader’s remark comes after Myrboh claimed that the UDP is a “rudderless” and “opportunistic” outfit that is fast losing public support.
“The UDP definitely will be a spent force by 2028 because people have decided to make it like that. They have made up their mind,” Myrboh said, setting off the latest round of political mudslinging in Meghalaya’s charged atmosphere.
At the same time, Lyngdoh rebutted criticisms over the UDP’s alliance with the NPP, declaring that the alliance is rooted in electoral facts and democratic mandate, not opportunism.
He firmly debunked the narrative that the UDP will pay for its collaboration with the NPP in the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA). Instead, he laid out a detailed defence grounded in vote share statistics, coalition dynamics, and what he called “inconvenient truths” that many choose to ignore.
“Governments are made by political parties coming together in case of a hung Assembly. In the 2023 general elections, two political parties that gained the maximum number of votes in terms of percentage and numbers are the NPP and the UDP,” Lyngdoh stated, asserting that the alliance was not only inevitable but also endorsed by voters.
He reminded critics that a failed attempt was made to stitch together a non-NPP government immediately after the 2023 elections, but that formation collapsed within two days. “You would also recall that because of this constant refrain that we should keep the NPP out, there was an attempt to cobble a non-NPP government, which failed the test of time. Within two days, members of a certain political party decided to support the NPP,” he said.
Calling out what he termed as the public’s selective memory, Lyngdoh added, “Public memory is so short, but let me remind the electorate that they voted for the NPP, giving them 19 seats and the UDP 12 seats. People who ask why we are working with the NPP should try to understand that the voters rewarded us for being in the MDA-I, helping double our seats from six to 12 so that we could form the MDA-II.”
He said that the mandate, clearly divided along regional lines, naturally led to a coalition between the two dominant players. “The people of Garo Hills voted overwhelmingly in favour of the NPP, the people of the Khasi-Jaintia sector voted overwhelmingly for the UDP. Is it not logical for the NPP and UDP to work together again?” he asked.
Lyngdoh dismissed the assumption that a non-NPP alliance could have offered a more credible alternative. “You expect a non-NPP government to take over and be stable? Look at the various factors,” he said. “Ardent Basaiawmoit led the VPP after leaving the HSPDP. Would he be comfortable working with the HSPDP legislators after leaving the HSPDP? He also left UDP. Mukul Sangma was supposed to be part of that team, working together with Congress, which he had just left. Then you expect the BJP and Congress to also be a part of that government? Where has the BJP ever partnered with Congress? These are facts,” he explained.
“Facts are difficult to be accepted by people because they are coloured by their own opinion, but you run the government based on sentiments, not on facts,” he stressed.
