Former Meghalaya Assembly Speaker as NPP official candidate from Phulbari

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaDecember 4, 2022

National People’s Party (NPP) national president and chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Saturday declared that former Assembly Speaker Abu Taher Mondal will be the official candidate of the party from Phulbari constituency in the upcoming 2023 Assembly elections.

“As the national president, I declare that AT Mondal will be the candidate of the NPP from Phulbari constituency in the coming elections. Let there be no doubt about this,” Sangma said while welcoming the former three-time legislator of Phulbari, who recently quit the Congress – along with his supporters.

Phulbari constituency is presently represented by NPP legislator SG Estamur Mominin.

Stating that the impact of Mondal’s joining will be felt in the entire plain belt area, Sangma said, “It is not just the Phulbari constituency but constituencies adjacent to Phulbari. And wherever we have significant Muslim population and other tribes and other religious groups, I am sure that with the entry of AT Mondal the confidence level of these different groups in different parts of the state will definitely go up and the impact will be felt throughout the plain belt, throughout Garo Hills and throughout the state.”

Referring to Mondal as someone who always treated everybody equally, the NPP chief said, “He has never differentiated between communities and different religious groups. For him all are the same and he has ensured that he would take care of everybody in the past and I am sure even in the coming days and years he would always take all communities and all religious groups together and move forward and I am sure that will be the way he will function in the future also.”

He also urged the NPP leaders to work as a team and ensure the party comes out victorious in Phulbari constituency.

Assuring full support to Mondal, Sangma informed that in the second or third week of December, he would visit Phulbari to have a big conference for organizing the party ahead of the election. According to him, the conference is likely to be held post December 16-17.

Earlier in his speech, AT Mondal said that the main reason for him finally deciding to choose NPP is for stability.

“Considering my personal experience in politics from 1998, stability is the major factor for the overall development of the state,” he said.

The former Speaker said in 1998, he has witnessed that in five years, almost five governments were installed and this has resulted in disruption of the benefits to the people of the state. He said in the subsequent years, he also witnessed that even from the same dispensation and even if the government is headed by their own MLA still there was a change of guard and the government cannot continue more than 2-3 years.

He said in 2018, when he lost the elections and when the Congress could not form the government, they would spend many days speculating that the NPP-led MDA government would fall since it was a conglomeration of 7 political parties.

“We keep on praying that let this government fall, so that we get an opportunity, our chief minister will be there and ultimately will get the benefit. But any time the news comes the next day we see that the government has come out much stronger,” Mondal said while lauding the efforts of the chief minister to ensure benefits to the people are not disrupted because of frequent fall of the government.  

He further commented the cohesiveness among the leaders of the NPP and said, “There is teamwork and every minister and every MLA are working together.”

Hailing the MDA government’s programmes including FOCUS+, Mondal said these programmes have directly benefited the beneficiaries including the farmers adding people are also very happy with the distribution of piglets.

Meanwhile, the former legislator also urged the chief minister to consider giving a civil sub-division for Phulbari in 2023.

“I would like to get a promise that in future if God bless us we will have the same formation if Conrad K Sangma leads the government. Definitely  a sub-division will have to be given in our locality also as people have to travel a long distance,” he said.

Slamming the critics for castigating the government’s decision to create new blocks and civil sub-divisions, Mondal said it is not because elections are coming that the government decided to create such blocks and civil sub-divisions.

“(Such decisions) need lots of time to plan, lots of time to see how the benefits are equally distributed among the areas. It is considered based on population and many times it is being given because of the geographical hurdles because people from the side of the river cannot easily travel to the block headquarters and all these things,” he stated.    

Also present during the joining programme were State Working President Don Kupar War, Working President of Phulbari Constituency Albistone A. Sangma, East Khasi Hills District President Jied Sing Kurbah, NPYF State Youth President Kitborlang Nongrem, and State Secretary Bajop Pyngrope.