CORRESPONDENT
SHILLONG: Former National People's Party (NPP) state president and former Rajya Sabha MP W.R. Kharlukhi has urged the party to look beyond its growing strength in the Meghalaya Assembly and take serious note of parliamentary election results in Tura and Shillong.
The NPP, which won 26 seats in the 2023 Assembly election, expanded its strength to 36 MLAs by 2026 through bye-election victories and political mergers. However, the party lost the Tura Lok Sabha seat to Congress candidate Saleng A. Sangma for the first time in its history, raising questions about whether its growing legislative strength reflected public support.
Kharlukhi said parliamentary election results deserved serious consideration, as voters would ultimately decide whether political mergers translated into electoral gains. He also pointed out that the NPP had won only eight seats in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region in the 2023 Assembly election.
Reflecting on the party's growth from two MLAs in 2013 to 36 in 2026, Kharlukhi said its expansion was the result of collective leadership rather than the efforts of any one individual. He led the party for 17 years before stepping down as state president.
Asked to assess the performance of the NPP-led government, he said voters had already delivered their verdict through parliamentary elections. He also said the BJP's increase from two MLAs in 2023 to 10 following the merger of eight former UDP legislators would be tested in the next Assembly election.
Drawing a parallel with the 12 Congress MLAs who left the party and merged with the Trinamool Congress, Kharlukhi said electoral strength could only be established through public support. "Similarly, people will test them in 2028 then only we will know," he said.
Kharlukhi clarified that his resignation as NPP state president did not mean he had retired from politics. He said the decision was voluntary and that he had not been sidelined after serving in the leadership role since the party's earlier days as the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"I have been President since NCP time for 17 years, I feel it's high time I give it to someone else," he said, adding that he had not decided whether to contest the 2028 Assembly election.
Reflecting on his tenure as a Rajya Sabha MP, Kharlukhi also questioned the effectiveness of sending parties with only one or two MPs to Parliament, citing his unsuccessful efforts to secure progress on the demand for the Inner Line Permit and issues related to coal.
"Sending to parliament one or two MPs is of no value," he said, referring to the challenges of raising issues in the Lok Sabha, which has 543 members.
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