Shillong: After winning four out of the 18 seats contested in the just concluded Meghalaya Assembly polls, the Voice of the People Party (VPP) is hopeful to form a government on its own in 2028.
“We have been able to shape the party in such away that it gives our people hope and we want you to know that as leaders, we don’t have any intention to gain personal benefits but our goal is to achieve our target that in 2028, the VPP will form the government on its own,” VPP chief Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said.
Addressing VPP’s workers and supporters at the ‘gratitude rally’ organised by the party at Polo ground on Saturday, the VPP legislator claimed that many people have approached the party for ticket for the forthcoming autonomous district councils elections in Khasi Hills and Jaintia Hills slated to be held next year.
“People from different parties have approached us for ticket. There is a constituency where over 20 people have requested for party ticket. This is because of the strong VPP wave that is going on (in the region),” he said.
Basaiawmoit said that the party has decided to strengthen the organisation at the grassroots level and have appointed organising secretaries.
Hitting out at leaders of other regional parties for “acts of betrayals” which has denied the state to get a government led by a regional force following the assembly polls, Basaiawmoit recalled what had happened during the post-poll when leaders of regional parties along with the Congress and Trinamool Congress were making attempts to form a non-National People’s Party (NPP) and non-BJP government in the state.
“We (VPP) were betrayed by the other regional parties and we could not form the government. Therefore, we decided to be in the opposition,” he said.
The NPP, which won 26 seats falling short of five seats for an absolute majority formed the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA 2.0) government for the second consecutive term with the support of the regional parties and BJP.
Stating that the victory of the VPP in the polls is a “threat” to the NPP, Basaiawmoit said, “The NPP is not scared of any political party, but it is scared of the VPP because we may not be able to win many seats but we were able to win against the money power.”
“Many have predicted that the VPP will win only 1 seat but we have won 4 seats. We lost by a very thin margin in Mylliem constituency and the people there have admitted that they were not really in favour of the Congress but they voted for the party just because they want to ensure the NPP is defeated,” he said.
