NPP to field Danggo in Ranikor, seeks consensus on candidate

NPP to field Danggo in Ranikor, seeks consensus on candidate

A REPORTER

SHILLONG, July 2: The National People’s Party (NPP) has stated that the party is prepared to face the upcoming bye-election in Ranikor Constituency and welcomed the decision of some of the coalition partners in the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) to join the fray.

NPP leader and Deputy Chief Minister of Meghalaya Prestone Tynsong while speaking to media persons said, “We are determined to field Martin M Danggo, whom we will welcome very soon to the party, for the bye-election to the seat.”

The bye-election was necessitated following the resignation of Danggo, a former senior Congress leader, as member of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly on June 21.

The five-time former legislator of the Constituency took the step soon after the NPP-led MDA Government announced its decision to upgrade the Ranikor Administrative Unit into a full-fledged Civil Sub-Division.

The seat, which fell vacant, is now being keenly eyed not only by the Opposition Congress but also by the MDA coalition partners like the United Democratic Party (UDP) and the People’s Democratic Front (PDF).

While the PDF is projecting its chairman Pynshngain N Syiem, a former Mawsynram MLA, as a common candidate from the Constituency, the UDP on the other hand is likely to again field Pius Marwein, who got defeated by Danggo in the February 27 Assembly polls this year.

When asked whether this would not affect the alliance, Tynsong however said, “We would simply welcome the decisions of our coalition partners (to join the fray).But if our friends in the Government feel the need to have a consensus candidate there is nothing like it.”

It may be mentioned that earlier, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had appealed to both the UDP and the PDF to reconsider their decision and extend full support to the NPP candidate Martin M Danggo in order to ensure the stability of the present coalition Government is further strengthened.

On the other hand, the NPP leader however maintained that the decision of contesting or not contesting the bye-election will totally depend on the wisdom of the different political parties, who are partners in the MDA.

“We understand that there will be a problem because the other political parties will of course want to preserve their identity that is why it is better for us not to say anything but leave it to their own wisdom,” he said.

Tynsong, however, denied that there will be any political ramification due to the upcoming Ranikor bypoll and said, “It (bypoll) will not create any differences among the partners as there was no such agreement made on this regard.”

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