Shillong, March 2: The National People’s Party (NPP) on Thursday pledged to work harder for the people of Meghalaya after emerging as the single largest party in the state by winning 26 seats in the Meghalaya Assembly elections 2023, the results of which were announced on Thursday by the Election Commission.
“I thank the people of the state for voting for our party,” NPP national president and chief minister Conrad K Sangma told reporters after being re-elected as MLA of South Tura, defeating his closest rival Bernard N Marak of the BJP.
After winning again from Pynursla constituency, NPP national vice president and deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong said, “I thank the people for reposing their faith in us. We will work better.”
Stating he was a bit disappointed as the party was not able to cross the magic number, Tynsong said, “However, we pledge to work harder for the people of the state.”
When asked if the NPP is still ready to work with the BJP, Tynsong however said, “Let me tell you there is no such agreement as far as MDA is concerned, we will decide. First, I am waiting for the Chief Minister. He will reach (Shillong) tonight then we will sit down and take a call.”
On the query that if BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma will again be an architect in the government formation in Meghalaya, the NPP leader however said, “The Assam CM is also chairman of the NEDA and is looking after the entire NE states, so naturally CM met him but it does not mean that he will be the main architect for the formation of the government. It is not like that. As I said to you, now we will sit down first from our side and then we will decide with whom we shall work together.”
On the demand for a chief minister from Khasi-Jaintia Hills region, Tynsong said people have given a broken verdict in Khasi-Jaintia Hills region and urged people not to communalise the issue of chief minister’s post.
“Even the new party which was just formed may be two-three months back now they got about 4 seats. So dreaming that we should get Khasi or Jaintia CM as far as my opinion is concerned, I feel we should not mention anything about that because we are all Meghalayan be it Khasi, be it Jaintia or be it Garo, we are all Meghalayans so why should we communalise things. We should not at all communalize the issue of the chief ministership,” he maintained.
Whether an MDA-II government will be formed with the same coalition partners, Tynsong said, “A coalition government has to be there so whether MDA-II or another name, that we will decide and we will let you know.”
He reiterated that all the newly elected MLAs of the party will soon sit to decide on the issue of coalition partners and chief ministership.
