VPP not to appoint chairmen in KHADC, to work with Govt for development of people: Ardent

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaFebruary 28, 2025

Voice of the People Party (VPP) supremo Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit on Friday said his party will practice what it preached by ensuring that there will be no appointment of chairmen in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) even as he expressed the need to work together with the state government for the interest and development of people and the state.

“We have taken the first major step which is to have a small size executive committee (EC) of eight members and two members in the legislative wing as we want to totally avoid any wasteful expenditure. We are just practicing what we preached and there are more (austerity measures) to come,” Basaiawmoit told reporters.

“As we have said we will have only eight members to the EC and two to the legislative. There will be no appointment for any chairmen in the district council. That is clear,” he added.

Asked if the party’s decision will not affect the functioning of the KHADC, Basaiawmoit however said, “That can be taken care of by the officers and the EC only. So it is not a big problem as that has been a normal practice to accommodate all the MDCs supporting the EC but we don’t need that kind of  (policy) as that is not the situation we are facing now as we got the majority and all our MDCs are ready to stay without any assignment but to support the EC.”

Further, Basaiawmoit said that the VPP is not interested in confronting the state government.

“We have been telling this on many occasions even after having won the MP elections, we don’t want to confront the state government. As far as the interest of the state and the people are concerned, we will cooperate which is why our MP is so actively involved, visiting places and taking up issues with the central government not to confront with the state government,” he stated while adding “So it is upto the state government. If they want to confront us we are ready but we don’t want to confront them. We want to work together for the development of the state and for the interest of the people.”

He continued: “We may have differences during elections on different matters but when it comes to governance, we do not want to create any problem as this is not a fight between VPP against NPP but it is a fight of principles and issues. So now the people have voted us to power so we will carry on with our duties but not to confront anyone but if someone stands in the way, we have to fight.”