Fenela Lyngdoh Nonglait, who had hoped to run for the Shillong Lok Sabha seat on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket has seemingly overcome most of her disappointment and now sees the saffron party’s decision to support the National People’s Party (NPP) candidate as in the best interests of Meghalaya.
The decision by the party high command not to field candidates for the two Meghalaya seats and instead back the NPP has not gone down well with a section of party members, some of whom have resigned while others have been pushing for the removal of state party president Rikman Momin for supposedly not making a strong enough case to field BJP candidates.
Earlier this week, Nonglait had spoken of her personal disappointment in the high command’s decision, especially focusing attention on the party’s work at the grassroots to build up its standing.
Now, with time, Nonglait has seen the benefits in supporting the NPP.
“The support we have given (to the NPP) should not be seen as a compromise,” she said. “The state BJP has certain expectations from the Centre and we believe that those we are supporting should also have the same concerns and we should not compromise with the issue relating to the state.”
The lawyer said that though she was disappointed with the decision since she had begun preparing for the Lok Sabha election, she added that the central leadership’s decision was taken in the best interest of the state.
It is clear that the National Democratic Alliance, of which the BJP is the lead member and the NPP a very junior partner, will win the election and having Meghalaya’s MPs from the ruling bench would bring scope for massive development to the state, she added.
Nonglait said that the support between the two parties should be on the basis of mutual respect of their respective issues.
The state goes to polls in the first phase on April 19.
