SHILLONG: The BJP national spokesperson and in charge Meghalaya Nalin S. Kohli is jubilant over BJP opening account in Garo Hills Council polls saying that is a clear rejection of Congress and its “politics of non- performance.”
He also said that NPP and the BJP are working jointly to stake claim to form the next EC.
Though BJP had MLAs in the past from Garo Hills, this is for the first time that a BJP candidate made it to GHADC. “The BJP thanks the voters of Zikzak for putting faith in the party”, Kohli said.
The BJP state general secretary Dipayan Chakraborty has said that the party would extend its support to any non-Congress alliance.
While thanking the people of Garo Hills, Chakraborty said that there was an anti-Congress wave in Garo Hills.
“With this win, we will now further strengthen our party for the 2018 Assembly elections”, he said.
Setback for Congress, UDP: The outcome of GHADC polls is a setback for both Congress and UDP.
Though the Congress had fielded candidates in all the 29 seats, it secured only 7 seats.
UDP, which had fielded 14 candidates, was the only party which drew blank.
There was no prompt response from the Congress leaders in state as they are still shocked over the poor performance of the party candidates in Garo Hills.
Neither the Chief Minister Mukul Sangma nor MPCC working president Deborah Marak could ensure better performance of the party candidates in their respective districts which they represent.
When contacted, AICC general secretary charge Meghalaya Narayanasamy said he was yet to collect the report from Meghalaya. The MPCC chief DD Lapang did not return the calls even after repeated attempts.
However, Cabinet Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh (Congress) admitted that the she had not expected such bad performance even as she admitted that anti- incumbency factor was very high in GHADC polls.
“We cannot be complacent. We have to introspect and find out what went wrong at the grassroots,” she added.
While BJP opened its account with one seat out 6 the party fielded , NCP which fielded 4 candidates secured one and GNC got 3 seats out of 4 candidates the party fielded. In the past, Garo Hills had a few UDP MLAs. However, in 2008 and 2013 Assembly polls , the party could not win a single Assembly seat.
When contacted, UDP general secretary Allan Dkhar said that there were multiple reasons for the party not securing any single seat. “Due to the boycott of the polls, there was less percentage of votes in the Hills compared to the plains which has affected the result”, he said.
He however, said that the absence of UDP legislators from Garo Hills have also affected coupled with lack of time in reaching out to the grassroots.
