SHILLONG, JUNE 12: NPP national general secretary and Deputy Chief Minister Sniawbhalang Dhar on Wednesday said the opposition Voice of the People Party (VPP)’s landslide victory from Shillong parliamentary seat in the just concluded Lok Sabha polls cannot be linked to the 2028 State Assembly elections, which is still four years away.

“You cannot link it (2024 LS polls) with the 2028 Assembly elections. Of course, there is scope for the VPP to increase its seats but you cannot also undermine the fact that the NPP, UDP and other parties will also work very hard since we have got 3-4 years time,” Dhar told reporters.

Stating that such victory is not new to Meghalaya, Dhar said, “Let’s go back to history. In 2019, Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (candidate Jemino Mawthoh) had contested against Vincent H Pala but Pala secured 4 lakh votes and it was also a landslide victory for him. We won only from Khliehriat constituency.”

“Therefore, the elections of MLA, MDC and MP are totally different. It doesn’t mean that they (VPP) won MP elections, they will get the same vote share in the other elections, it is definitely not like that,” he said adding “Pala won in 2019 by a margin of over 2 lakh votes but in 2023, the Congress could win only 4 seats from Khasi-Jaintia region. That’s why people are wiser than you think. Therefore, you should never underestimate our voters.”

Further, Dhar also assured that the NPP, which is leading the MDA government, will continue to serve the people of the state without any partiality or biasness.

“As leaders, we promised the people that we will try our best to serve you better. From the party and the government, we would like to apologize to the people for any shortcomings so that from now onwards we will try to work and serve our people better without any partiality or biasness,” he said.

Also informing that the post-mortem on the party’s poor performance is underway, the NPP leader said, “We are conducting a post mortem to identify the shortcomings and lapses. If you win or lose, you need to conduct a post mortem. Since we lost by a huge margin, post mortem is underway and we will try to correct all our shortcomings and lapses as a party and as a government as a whole.”

“Let us learn from our mistakes, maybe that defeat is the best. As leaders we accept the mistakes we have made and we are trying to post mortem what we have done in the last few years,” he said.

Meanwhile, Dhar said that the VPP’s victory may affect the NPP a bit in the upcoming elections to the autonomous district councils (ADCs) in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills region, whose tenures have been extended by six months. “However, we will work hard,” he stated.

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