SHILLONG:
All’s well that ends well! Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit managed to break through and defeat not one but two sitting MLAs – Lambor Malngiang of UDP and Dasakhiatbha Lamare of NPP (Mawhati) to recapture Nongkrem seat.
Basaiawmoit, an elated president of the much-hyped and newly formed Voice of the People Party (VPP) that won four seats – Mawlai, North Shillong, Mawryngkneng and Nongkrem, expressed satisfaction considering the time they had to campaign and number of seats they won.
Speaking to The Meghalayan, Basaiawmoit said, “For us it was not a surprise as we expected more than this, and given the fact that we didn’t get sufficient time to campaign, we are quite satisfied with the results.”
Asked if VPP will go into coalition with NPP-BJP, Basaiawmoit replied in a negative stating, “under no circumstances we will work with NPP”.
When asked if VPP will consider going with regional parties, he said, “UDP have sizeable number of seats, we would love to have a regional party govt but we will have to explore the possibility – we have not decided to meet UDP leaders.”