Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC) member, Bernard Marak is the front runner to contest the Gambegre by-election from the BJP.
This was revealed by State BJP spokesperson, Mariahom Kharkrang to media persons here today.
“As far I know Bernard (Marak) is a candidate who has shown keen interest to contest,” Kharkrang said adding that as of now no other name has come up.
When quipped how serious is the party with regards to the by-election Kharkrang informed that during the State executive committee meeting of the party held here today, one of the agenda is regarding the candidate for Gambegre by-poll.
He also said that even though Saleng A. Sangma, the former MLA from Gambegre is a popular man in the constituency, a portion of the constituency falls under the GHADC seat represented by Marak.
“He (Marak) also has a stronghold over there so we expect that he will give a good fight,” Kharkrang said.
He even said that Saleng Sangma is not contesting the by-election anymore but putting up another candidate.
“So that individuality will not be there anymore,” Kharkrang added.
When asked if the party has learnt its lesson for not putting up candidates in the Lok Sabha polls and therefore decided to put up a candidate for the Gambegre by-election, the BJP spokesperson said that the State unit of the party had wanted to put up candidates for the Lok Sabha election but there was a direction from the central leadership of the party to support the NPP.
“This time we have made our point that we want to contest from the (Gambegre) seat and we do hope the central leadership listens to the State unit and allows us to contest the by-poll,” Kharkrang said.
On Marak being outspoken against cases of corruption in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, Kharkrang said that Marak must have done his homework and had resources to back up his claims and as a public representative he has all the right to bring it out in the public domain.
Kharkrang also reiterated that there is no internal rift in the BJP but some individuals who are not happy and wanted to leave the party were the ones making allegations.
He also said that even if there are any misunderstandings they are being solved within the four walls of the party.
The BJP spokespersons also informed that another agenda for today’s meeting was the upcoming elections for KHADC and JHADC.
