The United Democratic Party (UDP) has a mature leadership that will not sink to the level of engaging in personal attacks on its rivals, its general secretary Jemino Mawthoh told Highland Post today.
The UDP has been on the receiving end of a barrage of criticism and threats from its supposed ally and leader of the coalition government, the National People’s Party (NPP), that the former will be thrown out of the alliance after the Sohiong Assembly seat election, which was held today and the results of which will be announced on May 13.
“Even in this campaign in Sohiong, the UDP leaders never spoke anything ill against the leaders of the NPP or partners in the coalition government,” Mawthoh said. “As far as the leaders of our party are concerned, we desisted and restrained ourselves from making personal attacks, which reflects on our political maturity as leaders.”
At the local level, however, some UDP figures may have attacked other political parties but that is a common thing in elections across all constituencies, he added. On the other hand, the NPP has not held back, with senior leaders taking aim at the UDP.
When asked if there’s any kind of threat to the UDP if the NPP wins the Sohiong seat, Mawthoh said that there has been no formal discussion of the subject.
“The UDP is a key partner and has provided much-needed stability and support in the previous MDA (Meghalaya Democratic Alliance) government for the whole term of five years and has been the stabilising factor in the two district councils, the KHADC and JHADC, as well and the cordial relationship continues as long as the common issues, concerns and agendas continue to be addressed by the coalition partners,” he said.
Coalition politics has been the norm in Meghalaya for almost its entire history, and such things will continue for the next five years as well.
Echoing similar views, former Mawlai MLA and Mawthoh’s party colleague Process T Sawkmie said that the UDP leadership will not engage in personal attacks.
However, he said that the MDA 2 coalition is not even three months old and there is still another four years and nine months to go before the next election has to be called, so anything can happen, especially in politics.
