‘Joined NPP as it has national identity, local leadership’
Shillong, Oct 19: Not surprisingly, three of the four remaining United Democratic Party (UDP) MLAs have now left the regional party – they merged with the ruling National People’s Party (NPP).
UDP, which had 12 MLAs till September 23 when eight of them joined the BJP, is now left with just one MLA, party president Metbah Lyngdoh.
Renikton L Tongkhar, one of the three MLAs to merge with the NPP, cited failure of past efforts to unite regional parties as a key reason behind their decision.
The Mawkyrwat MLA was joined by Paul Lyngdoh of West Shillong and Nujorki Sungoh of Mowkaiaw in the merger.
To apprise their decision, the three legislators met Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma on Monday.
Tongkhar said the previous efforts to bring regional parties together under the Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) had failed to achieve the objective.
He argued that the NPP offered a platform, combining national recognition with leadership rooted in the region.
“We have done the best we can to unite the regional parties… in the name of RDA… we failed,” he said.
Stating that Conrad K Sangma-led NPP was the best option before them, Tongkhar said, “I’m proud to say that NPP, a national party, but it’s led by our people from here.”
With this merger, the NPP’s current strength, 37, would be further boosted in the 60-member Assembly.
The three legislators constitute three-fourths of the UDP’s four-member legislative wing. Under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, a merger is protected from disqualification when at least two-thirds of a legislature party’s members agree to it, subject to the applicable constitutional requirements.
UDP president and Mairang MLA Metbah Lyngdoh, also a cabinet minister, now remains the only party representative in the assembly, but his fate in the cabinet faces a question.
The move also raises questions about the future of the UDP, a regional party that has played a significant role in Meghalaya’s coalition politics and remained a key ally in the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government.
