SHILLONG, Nov 7: Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) working president, Ampareen Lyngdoh has said that the party is open to the idea of pre-poll alliances with any political party ahead of the battle of ballots in 2023.
“No one can predict the politics in Meghalaya. The UDP formed an alliance with the NPP and BJP despite making it very clear during their election campaign in 2018 not to work with NPP. Therefore, I do not foresee any problem with the Congress having a pre-poll alliance with other parties,” Lyngdoh said on Sunday.
Refusing to give a direct reply to a query on whether the Congress is open to the idea of working with the NPP, she said, “Only time will tell who we will work with in 2023.”
The Congress leader also made it clear that there should not be any doubt over the intention of MPCC president, Vincent H. Pala just because he has close connections with Chief Minister, Conrad K. Sangma and state NPP chief, Dr. WR Kharlukhi.
“With 14 months left for the Assembly polls, it is the duty of the MPCC president to try and negotiate coalition partnerships for 2023. Where is the harm in that?” she said.
“The party president is negotiating on behalf of everyone in the Congress. We need to prepare ourselves better in 2023. We might have a pre-poll pact with someone,” Lyngdoh added, making it clear that sharing a common platform with Dr Kharlukhi does not mean that he is betraying the party.
According to her, being an MP from the party, Pala shares good relations with leaders of various political parties. “The MPCC chief will not have won the parliamentary elections by a huge a margin if he did not share a cordial relation with leaders from various parties,” Lyngdoh pointed out.
She also advised party leaders to learn the skills of the MPCC chief to be able to maintain good relations with everyone.
