Shillong: The Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) is set to hold a meeting soon to address the confusion regarding their purported “exit” from the Regional Democratic Alliance (RDA) in Meghalaya.
Following this, a meeting with the United Democratic Party (UDP) leadership will take place.
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“It is very important to clear the confusion. No doubt we are together in the alliance, but it is always better to make things crystal clear,” Shillong Times quoted HSPDP general secretary, Panbor Ryntathiang, on Saturday.
Ryntathiang emphasized the importance of internal discussions within the HSPDP before engaging with the UDP.
He noted that the discussions with the UDP are necessary due to several conflicting statements made recently, and the HSPDP aims to establish a clear roadmap for the RDA.
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The RDA, an alliance between the HSPDP and the UDP, has been a platform for fielding common candidates and candidates with mutual understanding in various constituencies.
Most UDP leaders expressed surprise over party working president Paul Lyngdoh’s claim that the HSPDP has expressed a desire to withdraw from the RDA.
A senior UDP leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Shillong Times on Friday that no such communication had been received from the HSPDP leadership, either verbally or in writing.
He suggested that Lyngdoh might have assumed this after the HSPDP announced plans to contest the district council elections independently.
“The RDA is very much intact. Even HSPDP president KP Pangniang has dismissed this claim,” the UDP leader stated.
However, he admitted that Lyngdoh’s statement had caused some confusion among the leadership of both parties.
Earlier, Pangniang affirmed that the HSPDP would remain with the RDA. “There is no question of leaving the alliance with the UDP,” he stated.
UDP working president Lyngdoh had previously claimed that multiple factors contributed to the failure of the RDA candidate, Robertjune Kharjahrin, in the Lok Sabha polls, leading to the HSPDP’s decision to withdraw from the RDA. He added that the two parties would meet formally to resolve all issues.
When asked if the HSPDP’s decision would negatively impact the UDP, Lyngdoh said, “You might say so. We might think it is better to work separately since we could not secure 5 percent of the total vote share this time. Probably, if we had contested alone, we could have crossed that threshold.”