SHILLONG:
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator AL Hek, on April 8, said that the party is only interested in inducting winnable candidates ahead of the 2023 Assemble polls.
“Do you think all sitting MLAs are winnable candidates? If they are winnable candidates, we will take them but if not, why will we waste our time. If winnable candidates want to join the BJP, the door is open,” he said.
His comments came as a reaction to reports that several sitting legislators, including some from the ruling National People’s Party, have expressed keen interest to join the saffron party ahead of the 2023 state Assembly polls. “Some of them are also from the NPP,” sources said on Friday. The sources further informed that at least four to five sitting MLAs and 12 to 13 former legislators have approached the BJP for a party ticket.
Hek, however, refrained from taking any names and said, “I don’t want to disclose the names but it is already there in the pipeline. When the time is right, I will disclose the names.”
Expressing confidence that the BJP will get a comfortable number to lead the new government in 2023, Hek said that people of the state have started accepting the BJP.
“However, we need some leaders to join the party because in Meghalaya, it is not only party base politics, but individual-based politics as well. So, we need both as people now are accepting the BJP and our Prime Minister,” he said.
He further stressed how Prime Minister’s image among the rural population of the state is gaining acceptability.
“Whenever we are talking to people in rural areas, they say the Modi party is the best. So, unlike the previous years, everybody is accepting the BJP as the Modi party. Before people were hesitating and did not want to hear the name of BJP… Now, they are saying rice (is being provided by) BJP, gas BJP, water BJP.”