SHILLONG, March 12 - The Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) has settled for the UDP�s Jemino Mawthoh as its common candidate for the Shillong Lok Sabha seat. On the other hand, the NPP will field its candidate for the Tura seat.
Mawthoh is a former MLA and has shown interest in contesting the Shillong seat since a long time. But in the absence of consensus on the issue, no decision was taken till Monday evening.
The MDA partners held a meeting at the residence of UDP president and Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Donkupar Roy, in which presidents of different parties agreed that Mawthoh was the best candidate.
Roy said that all the MDA partners unanimously decided that Mawthoh would be the MDA�s common candidate, and that he would have the support of all the partners.
Meanwhile, NPP president and Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that it was also decided in the meeting that the NPP would field its candidate for the Tura seat. He, however, refused to comment when asked if Agatha Sangma would be the NPP�s candidate for the seat.
At present, the Shillong Parliamentary seat is held by Congressman Vincent Pala. It is likely that Pala would get the party ticket again. The Tura seat was won by Conrad Sangma, but he had quit it to join the State Assembly.
The Congress has still a strong base in the Shillong Parliamentary constituency, while the Tura seat has been the stronghold of the PA Sangma family for decades.
