Shillong, Jun 22: The ingress and egress of members is common in political parties and that is no different for the United Democratic Party (UDP), party general secretary and Sohra MDC Titosstarwell Chyne said today.
He was reacting to the recent exit of party vice-president Robertjune Kharjahrin, who fought the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, from the UDP. Kharjahrin had quit the party after it chose to support the candidature of James PK Sangma (of the National People’s Party) for Meghalaya’s lone Rajya Sabha seat. Separately, former MLA and then UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh left the party in 2025.
Chyne said that there have been numerous regional parties formed in the state this century but somehow got lost along the way. “I firmly believe that the UDP, with a strong base and principles and leaders the party will move forward,” Chyne told reporters. The UDP is the second-largest party in the Meghalaya Assembly (after its ally the NPP) and largest regional outfit.
“We see that even in national parties where even elected MLAs, MPs resign maybe for their survival or personal reasons,” Chyne added.
Asked whether the resignation of Kharjahrin and Mawthoh reflected badly on the leadership of UDP president and cabinet minister Metbah Lyngdoh, Chyne stood up for his party boss.
“In 2018 we won only six seats in the Assembly and in the 2023 election the number rose to 12, which shows that under the leadership of Metbah Lyngdoh the party is going strong,” he said.
Chyne also denied that there is factionalism in the UDP but did not disagree that there could be some who want to part ways.
