Shillong,July 22: The UDP hopes to do very well in the 2023 Assembly polls.
“As of now from all indications if you observe…inspite of us being part and parcel of the government, people are looking towards the UDP as the next alternative who will form the government in 2023,” UDP leader Jemino Mawthoh said on Friday.
Mawthoh further claimed that the leaders of different political parties have also given their commitment to contest from the UDP in 2023.
“We have another 6-7 MLAs and we also have MLAs from Garo Hills who have given their commitment to contest from the UDP,” he said.
At present, the UDP has 8 MLAs and 2 associate members in the 60-member House.
The UDP leader said, “if we take all MLAs, non-MLAs and sitting MDCs, we are going to do well in 2023.”
“And now with the disintegration of the Congress and with the coming in of a new political party (AITC) in the state and with the unfortunate developments in the other political parties, we see that the UDP is growing in strength and from all indications it appears that the UDP is going to lead the government in 2023,” he added.
He said post 2018 the party could manage to win 3 by elections which was already a positive sign for the UDP.
When asked about the B-Team tag, Mawthoh said the UDP this time around do not want to be labeled as B-team of the Congress or B-team of the NPP.
“We want to be team A, who will be leading the state in 2023. That is what we want and we are working very hard to mobilise the public support and we hope that things will be shaped in that way only so that we can also provide the required leadership for the state of Meghalaya in the next five years,” he said.
He said in the past, the UDP was part and parcel of the government led by the Congress because of the coalition era and coalition politics.
“But after 2018 when we could win only 6 seats, again we had to join hands with other political parties in the government led by the NPP.”
The UDP general secretary informed that the party’s manifesto committee is on the job preparing the manifesto and would soon bring it to the public domain so that people will know what the party intends to do post 2023.
“Because we need to have some kind of direction for the state as when we talk about the state for the last 50 years I am not saying that the state is not moving ahead but there are a lot of things that are happening in the state which are not to the expectation of the people as we see a downslide in some of the sectors,” he said.
According to him, the financial health of the state is of utmost importance since Meghalaya is not an income generating state and there is a need to plug all the loopholes as far as revenue leakage is concerned besides management of the available resources.
“We cannot knock on the door of the Centre all the time so we need to start the process of standing on our own feet. Of course we need the support but what is important is the management as far as the finance of the state is concerned,” he said.
