Cabinet minister and UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh today gave a guarded reply to media persons when he was asked if his party felt threatened by the Voice of the People Party (VPP).
“In politics, we always have to put our best foot forward and look at every political party as a potential threat and do their best,” Lyngdoh said.
When asked about the electoral prospects of the VPP, Lyngdoh said, “If you look at the figures, they have four MLAs and we have 12 and there is a comparison.”
He also stated that politics in Meghalaya has always been individual-centric and not party-centric and people still vote based on the individual capacity or charisma of candidates without really referring to their political affiliation.
The UDP working president however said that the fact that there are more and more parties being formed does dilute the appeal of regional parties and the ability to consolidate.
On a question of the regional parties not being able to form a government on their own, Lyngdoh said that Meghalaya has been through coalition politics for several years.
He said that except for the first government of 1972 which was led by the APHLC, all the other governments formed in the State were coalition governments.
He however said that the UDP has made a tremendous improvement in the number of MLAs with 12 at present from six in the previous house.
Meanwhile, Lyngdoh said that the MDA-2 government should have a common minimum programme. He also referred to the recent speech by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Governor Phagu Chauhan in the State Assembly.
“If you look at the budget speech of the chief minister or the address of the governor in the august house, all the major points are part and parcel of the UDP manifesto and I think we should have the common minimum programme,” he said.
