SHILLONG:
United Democratic Party (UDP) president Metbah Lyngdoh, on March 6, said that they had to settle with NPP’s “proposal” for support after UDP failed to cobble up the numbers to form a regional party-led government in Meghalaya.
“The mandate given by people reflected their will for a regional party to form the government because UDP is the only party with 11 MLAs from Khasi-Jaintia Hills. We made an attempt (to form the government) on the same day (March 2) but we didn’t have enough number. The total number of seats garnered by the regional parties came to only 19; we needed the support from the national parties (TMC, Congress),” he explained.
Furthermore, he informed that on March 3 when they met leaders of other parties, they had 30 MLAs on their side but by the end of the day, they lost three MLAs and the number dropped to 27.
“On that day, we were assured by the president of one of the political parties that the MLAs who defected to the other side (NPP) would return. We waited but they never returned,” he added.
After realizing that they couldn’t cross the mark to form the government, Lyngdoh said NPP had already approached them but UDP was waiting for the return of the three MLAs. “We waited, but it did not happen so we settled with the former (sic),” the UDP chief clarified.
When asked whether the UDP has asked for the post of Deputy Chief Minister, Lyngdoh said, “We are still discussing the matter and regarding the speaker’s post, talk is going on.”