The United Democratic Party (UDP) is ready to fight the 2023 state elections alone, even if that means taking on its allies in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance government.
This was stated by UDP president and Speaker of the Assembly, Metbah Lyngdoh, today.
Lyngdoh declined to confirm whether the UDP will even form a pre-poll alliance with the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP), which was the case in 2018.
The UDP has benefited from a number of defections and fence-jumping but has also lost out on a few members, the most high profile recent example being former Mawlai MLA Embhahlang Syiemlieh, who apparently quit as the party is more in favour of giving its ticket in 2023 to the incumbent, Process Sawkmie, who is strongly rumoured to be considering a move to the UDP.
Lyngdoh said that the party is “first and foremost” looking for committed candidates to work for the welfare of the people.
“We would like to try for all 60 seats but we will look into that,” Lyngdoh said.
He also said that the UDP does not consider the Trinamool Congress as much of a threat. “We have a good team in the party, so we can really take the party forwards and we are expecting good results,” he added.
