Staff Reporter

Shillong, Nov 30: NPP candidate for Shillong parliamentary seat and cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh today said the National People’s Party has its own identity and is not synonymous with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Addressing the media after a consultation meeting with leaders from the Jaintia Hills region, Lyngdoh said, “I am here with the agenda of the party and we stick by that and we dispel the myth that we are synonymous with BJP. NPP has its own identity. We are not going to be submerged by any ideas or ideologies which are averse to the people of the State. We are NPP, we are members of the NDA and there is absolutely no harm in being coalition partners with the NDA.”

Stating that she will work hard to cut across party lines, the East Shillong legislator asserted the need to have a view of religion.

“All religions are equal in the State of Meghalaya. We should take that forward and we should not say that X, Y, and Z parties are linked to this and this. We will work hard to make sure that also is dispelled in these elections. We will try to cut across party lines,” she said.

Refusing to rate the performance of the sitting Congress MP Vincent H Pala during his 15-year tenure, Lyngdoh said, “I am not here to rate anyone. I will meet that person on the turf. We are going to be contenders for the post of MP. I will not say what he did, what he didn’t do, let the people evaluate.”

Lyngdoh and Agatha K Sangma have been declared as candidates of the party for the upcoming LS elections.

“The party has consciously taken a call to allow two women candidates to represent the two MP seats of the state of Meghalaya speaks volumes. We do not want to harp on that. Both Agatha and I do not necessarily link to gender. Nevertheless, because we are women, we have to assure the people of the state of Meghalaya that this party is a party which is tolerant to the things to come. We already said that 33 per cent reservation will be a reality. Now we want to show by example,” she said.

Also stating that NPP has matured as a political party over the years, Lyngdoh said, “The party has in the last 2023 legislative assembly elections indicated the higher vote share. We are now well positioned in the politics of the state of Meghalaya. We want to cash in on that. Our candidates, if at all they were defeated, were defeated by very small margins. There could be many factors that decide on the win or loss of an NPP candidate but the vote share is large. We are now mature enough as a party to have our own candidate and it does not matter who’s fielding whom. We fight this cutting across party lines.”

She said her campaign started with all Jaintia Hills leaders from all 7 constituencies during a consultation meeting held under the leadership of the deputy chief minister Sniawbhalang Dhar, cabinet minister Comingone Ymbon and legislators from the region.

“We have shown you this is the kind of excitement that is there in the minds of people. I hope as a candidate I will be able to make that magic happen because I only promise one thing, I will work hard and I will walk the talk. I have been a person who has been vocal and focused and I will continue to do that with an effort to popularise the party that has made me an MLA this time and made me a minister this time.”

Further, Lyngdoh promised to follow her late father Peter Garnett Marbaniang’s footsteps. (L) Marbaniang had represented the Shillong Lok Sabha Constituency of Meghalaya from 1989 to 1996 in the Lok Sabha.

“We are very honoured that the people remembered my late father. 27 years have just passed that way. We tend to get a little emotional but I will have to carry that forward. That is a big task for me to actually begin to understand because my father was known as the person of the people. I have to start there, which is the basic thing. I have to follow his footsteps very keenly. I cannot do anything different,” she said.

“Mark my words, I will be seen, I will be talked about just as much as my father was talked about, my late brother was talked about. It is going to be difficult. I am preparing myself to climb Mount Everest and I am happy that I belong to a party like the NPP who has all the necessary backup to make sure that they work along with me.So yes it will be honour and a privilege for me to bring my father’s memory back into conversation,” she added further.