Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) chief Pyniaid Sing Syiem on Wednesday alleged that there was a nexus between the All India Trinamool Congress (or TMC) with the Voice of the People Party (VPP) in the just concluded 2023 Assembly elections in the state.
The KHADC chief, who was a former NPP MLA from Mawryngkneng constituency, said that he had lost unexpectedly to the VPP MLA Heaving Stone Kharpran in the Assembly polls.
Speaking to reporters, Syiem said, “(A post-mortem was conducted) and it was found out that the main reason behind the victory of the VPP in Mawryngkneng constituency was because of the support of the TMC. The TMC has helped the VPP by asking its supporters to vote for the VPP. The other reason was because of the VPP election song (Ha U Prah).”
“Similarly, in other constituencies also, we found that the TMC had actively supported the VPP. But unfortunately, the VPP could make any impact in the Garo Hills region,” he said.
The NPP leader said, “Taking all these things into consideration, it clearly shows that the VPP is not a party from Khasi Hills and that the origin of the symbol ‘Prah’ or ‘Winnower’ is not from Khasi Hills as it turns out to be a ‘West Bengal Prah’. The VPP has been exposed. The VPP proved itself just to be a duplicate face of the TMC in the Khasi Hills region.”
Syiem said that the VPP is not going to be a threat for the NPP in the upcoming MDC elections, to be held next year.
“We have identified who the opponents are. We may have a tough fight with a ‘Prah Khasi’ but now we know it is just a ‘Prah West Bengal’, which will not last long in the Khasi Hills,” he said while expressing confidence that the NPP will come back to power in 2024 in the KHADC.