SHILLONG:
BJP leader and cabinet minister Alexander Laloo Hek on November 6 said that the BJP had an edge to win both Shillong and Tura parliamentary seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections because of its “consolidated vote bank”.
Hek told reporters that the decision of all MDA partners to contest the LS polls was an advantage for the BJP.
“BJP has got its own consolidated vote bank. This vote bank will not go anywhere. Therefore, BJP definitely has an edge this time because there are too many candidates (belonging to the National People’s Party (NPP), United Democratic Party (UDP), Trinamool Congress (TMC), Voice of the People Party (VPP) contesting the MP election and no political party has a solid vote bank. They have a flying vote bank,” he said.
Hek informed that the BJP being a national political party will be fielding candidates for both Shillong and Tura seats.
To a question on whether he would contest from Shillong constituency, Hek said that he was nobody to decide on the matter because it was for the central leadership of the party to make such a decision.
He further divulged that the party state president Rikman G Momin had informed that there were three candidates vying for the ticket from Shillong.
“However, the president is yet to constitute the state executive committee and office-bearers. Once this is done then the process of selection of candidates will be initiated,” Hek said while adding, “I don’t know who the three candidates are. I don’t know whether my name is there or not. If they include my name well and good and if they don’t we will support any candidate.”
“Whatever. I don’t know how much popularity I have but the party will have its own judgment so I have nothing to interfere with the judgment of the party,” he added further.
Further, Hek also maintained that the party is not going to contest for the sake of contesting the election. “We are going to contest to win the elections,” he said.