People’s Democratic Front (PDF) member and cabinet minister Hamletson Dohling on Saturday joined the NPP in the presence of NPP National President and Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Rajya Sabha member WR Kharlukhi, cabinet minister Sniawbhalang Dhar and other senior party leaders.
The other leaders of the PDF who joined the NPP include former state president Aiban Marbaniang, former general secretary Emlang Lytan and former chief organizer Ribson Ryntathiang.
Dohling had resigned as legislator of Mylliem constituency on January 5.
Terming Dohling’s joining as a great boost for the NPP, Sangma said, “I am sure that the impact of him and the other leaders joining will not be limited just to Mylliem constituency but the echoes will be heard in different parts of Khasi-Jaintia Hills and even Garo Hills.”
The CM also expressed confidence that “the NPP will come out with a full mandate and we will get single majority in the 2023 elections, I am very sure about it,” Sangma said.
He also lauds the people of Mylliem for their wisdom in electing Dohling as their representative. He said today so many people from the PDF have joined the NPP family because they believe in Dohling’s leadership.
He said Dohling’s stand on issues like the inner line permit (ILP), uranium, border and others never change since the time when he was leader of the Khasi Students’ Union (KSU).
“Sometimes people change their stand when they come to politics, what they use to say before, they will not say now but he was very clear that he is coming into politics to carry forward those issues that he had brought out,” Sangma said.
He said, “This is a sign of a leader who is committed to the cause and committed to his people and today the NPP indeed feels lucky and privileged to have a leader like Hamlet joining our family and all the members of the PDF for coming here today.”
The NPP chief said that running a coalition government is never easy because all political parties and leaders and leaders will have their own interests, their own stand, their own areas of concern, and their own way of handling situations.
Sangma said that the MDA government had survived numerous challenges in the past four and a half years and has been able to resolve difficult situations and problems.
“We faced numerous challenges when we had law and order problems, different incidents happening, different situations and different problems coming up. We had a large number of challenges in terms of Covid where the government could not function in the normal way for two years and major development works and other works of the government have to be halted.
A large number of other challenges like these came in front of us but still we kept moving forward, our government survived, our government moved forward and deliver the on large number of promises that he had made to the people of our state,” he said.
Earlier in his speech, Dohling said that he along with the other leaders and supporters of the PDF decided to join the NPP because it is united and is serious to take up issues which no other parties or governments dared to touch.
He said that under the leadership of the chief minister Conrad K Sangma, the NPP-led MDA government has shown seriousness when it comes to sensitive issues like the ILP, border and others.
Ridiculing those who are alleging that the NPP is offering Rs 5 crore for contesting on its ticket, Dohling said, “I want to share with you that I have decided to join the NPP in order to be able to continue serving the people of Mylliem and the state as a whole.”
He said that from day one of his induction as a cabinet minister, he had clearly stated that no uranium mining should take place in Meghalaya. According to him, he had also asked the government to take up the demand for ILP, resolving of the boundary dispute, inclusion of Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution and other issues concerning the state and its people.
“Therefore, we will work hard to make sure that the NPP will be able to form a strong government in order to continue to push for implementation of ILP and other issues,” Dohling added.
Dohling also released a report card on his performance as Mylliem legislator during the last four and a half years.
He said the report card highlighted the all-round development in the 36 villages of the constituency.
“In 2018 I have promised the people of Mylliem constituency to vote for me and you will not regret it. I have provided all type of schemes to all and each and every villages and localities of the constituency. I along with chief minister, we have push hard for implementation of JJM scheme, MGNREGA in census town and now many census town like Mylliem, Mairang, Mawlai etc have been benefited from these schemes,” he claimed.
He said due to Covid pandemic, they were not able to work for more than two years. “Yet I was able to provide all types of development work to every village of the constituency and everyone has the right to judge me by looking at my report card,” he added.
Dohling was elected to the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly in 2018 as a People’s Democratic
Front (PDF) member from Mylliem constituency. He had defeated his nearest rival candidate
Ronnie Lyngdoh of the Congress by a margin of only 421 votes. This election too the former legislator is a strong contender against Dohling.