Shillong, Feb. 3: Setting speculation at rest, Meghalaya chief minister F.A. Khonglam today applied for a ticket from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the February 26 Assembly elections.
Khonglam will contest from the 29 Sohra Legislative Assembly constituency from where he had won the previous election as an Independent.
With Khonglam finally applying for the party ticket, the NCP now has only three seats ? Sohryngkham, Mawlai and Jaiaw ? free. The party will now contest 56 of the 60 seats, having allotted the Shella constituency to Mathew M. Mawdakat.
?I will file nomination papers on February 6 as an NCP candidate as it?s my birthday. That way I will have something to remember the day by,? Khonglam said. His indecision had kept the NCP on tenterhooks and even fuelled rumours that he would contest as an Independent. Some senior leaders of the NCP were also miffed with the chief minister?s ?casual? approach to the whole issue.
?I have no differences with Purno Sangma or NCP state president Robert Kharshiing. I was only timing my application for a party ticket,? Khonglam said without getting into the specifics of the actual reason for the delay.
The chief minister had reportedly fallen out with some top NCP leaders, including Purno Sangma, the national general secretary of the party over his indecisiveness to contest on an NCP ticket. Besides, attracting the anti-defection law could also be a reason why Khonglam took so long to make up his mind.
However, a relaxed Khonglam today said by joining the NCP, he is now feeling stronger. ?Earlier, I was alone. Now I am in a group,? he said. This is the third time in his political career that the chief minister will be contesting Assembly polls under the banner of a party.
Khonglam started his career with the Hill State People?s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and won his first elections from the Sohra constituency on an HSPDP ticket. After losing the subsequent Assembly elections in 1988 while contesting on a Congress ticket, Khonglam was returned from the Sohra constituency as an Independent in 1993 after which he preferred to remain partyless.