Ampareen Lyngdoh will prioritise the improvement of health infrastructure if she wins this year’s Lok Sabha election, she said today.
Lyngdoh is the National People’s Party (NPP) candidate for the Shillong seat. She is currently Meghalaya’s Health and Family Welfare Minister.
Lyngdoh added that her second priority would be to strengthen connectivity, whether that be in terms of roads, internet, etc and, thirdly, she wants to strengthen the dorbar shnongs.
According to her, agriculture (she also holds that portfolio in cabinet) is also the backbone of the indigenous people but there is a need to connect each and every individual farmer.
The minister said that there is a need to better market products like fruits, vegetables and their by-products.
There was rampant speculation as to the NPP’s choice of candidate, with many politicians all but openly campaigning to be awarded the ticket. Lyngdoh, though, was not a name widely heard and she described it as a surprise to be put forward by the party.
“I did not think that I would contest the MP election. I just won the MLA polls (last year) and it was sufficient for me to serve the public as a legislator (in the Assembly),” she said. “I do not have a specific game plan. My work is to go to every area and know the problems of the public and look for people who can voluntarily work for the development of the community.”
Lyngdoh said that on the larger issue of inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, she will fight for the demand and she also called for the need to strengthen the Sixth Schedule.
