Shillong, June 5: MDA partners have expressed unity in carrying on with the policies and programmes of the government, a day after the opposition parties-VPP and the Congress secured both Shillong and Tura seats.
The members of the MDA from various parties individually met Chief Minister Conrad Sangma at his office chamber here.
VPP’s Ricky AJ Syngkon defeated three- time Congress MP Vincent Pala by a margin of 3.7 lakh votes, while three-time MLA Saleng Sangma from the Congress defeated Agatha Sangma ( NPP) in Tura by a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and UDP president Metbah spoke separately to journalists regarding the outcome of Lok Sabha Polls and said the parties are yet to assess the reasons for the defeat.
The chief minister said the NPP-led MDA government will complete its full five-year term.
Sangma attributed the poor performance of the NPP to many factors and said “It will be too premature for me to react to the entire process but there are many factors and we have, in fact, had a couple of rounds of meetings already to discuss.”
NPP state president and deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said, “We accepted the mandate of the people be it in Tura or be it here in Shillong LS seat.”
He said the party will soon convene a meeting to review its performance and make necessary corrections.
Prestone said he will also correct his shortcomings to serve the people of Pynursla constituency better.
Prestone and another deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar were defeated by the Voice of the People Party (VPP) in their Pynursla and Nartiang Assembly segments under Shillong parliamentary seat respectively.
Cabinet minister and UDP leader Paul Lyngdoh said the VPP has emerged as a significant player in Meghalaya but added that the populist wave does not last in politics.
In response to the landslide victory of the VPP, Lyngdoh said, “Yes, every election throws its own surprises but we respect the mandate of the people and we certainly accept it with all humility.”
Conrad and Prestone welcomed the demand of the VPP for investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) or Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into any alleged corruption in MDA government.
When asked, Chief Minister said that the MDA is open to any probe.
Tynsong said, “I think the president of VPP will tell his newly elected MP to make sure that ED and CBI step in our state. As president of NPP and also as deputy chief minister in the MDA government, we welcome this because all these years they keep talking about corruption, corruption and corruption and I also used to clarify but it seems people tend to believe that Prestone, Conrad or Sniawbha and all the ministers are corrupted.”
“I have seen the statement made by the president of VPP I welcome, it is good and let people know where is that corruption happened and let also people understand whether the allegation made by anybody is genuine or not, is substantiated or not, let people understand and let also those central agencies step in in the state of Meghalaya, we welcome that”, Tynsong said.
