Politics / Meghalaya

Shillong, Feb. 1: Former Meghalaya chief minister E.K. Mawlong kicked off the United Democratic Party?s (UDP) election campaign today by releasing the party manifesto.

Mawlong, who is president of the party, said the UDP would attempt to take the controversial deal regarding the Calcutta-based Meghalaya House to its logical conclusion if voted to power. He was optimistic that his party would form the next government in the state.

The UDP, which had contested in 56 of the 60 Assembly seats, has released a list of 50 candidates for the February 26 polls. In the last Assembly elections, the party...

SHILLONG, Feb 1? Khun Hynnniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), a new regional party in Meghalaya, floated by the Khasi Students? Union (KSU), will make its debut in the forthcoming Assembly elections in the hill state. A list of 26 candidates of the party was released here on Friday by the KHNAM president and former KSU president Paul Lyngdoh, who is himself a candidate from Jaiaw and the best bet for the fledgeding party. Prominent among other candidates contesting on KHNAM tickets are former Home Minister J M Pariat, former MLA and prominent advocate G S Massar (ex-MLA) and...

Shillong, Jan. 31: Church leaders in Meghalaya have renewed their call to voters to adhere to guidelines issued by the state?s Christian establishment while voting in the February 26 polls.

The Shillong Khasi Jaintia Church Leaders? Forum today said it endorsed the ?election guidelines? issued by the Catholic Church and the KJP Synod.

In a statement, forum president Purely Lyngdoh and general secretary R.J. Skinner said that the forum ?endorses the guidelines, urging voters to follow them and to elect candidates who are God-fearing and who can work for peace, progress and prosperity of the...

Shillong, Jan. 30: The hostage has returned, but his ordeal has exacted a heavy price from him physically and emotionally.

East Garo Hills district health and medical officer Prakash Bezbaruah, who was released yesterday at 12.30 pm by militants of the A?chik National Volunteers? Council (ANVC), is in poor health. He expressed his wish to spend more time with his family. He was abducted on December 19 while on his way home in Williamnagar.

A diabetic, Bezbaruah today said over phone, ?I am all right though physically and mentally I?m weak and I want to take rest.?

Speaking to The Telegraph...

SHILLONG, Jan 29 ? Dr PN Bezbaruah, District Medical and Health Officer, Williamnagar, was released from the captivity of suspected ANVC militants, at Williamnagar around 12.30 pm today. Meghalaya DGP L Sailo informed The Assam Tribune this evening that Dr Bezbaruah who was taken hostage on December 19 last year, was ?OK but weak?. He was released by his abductors at the outskirts of Williamnagar from where he walked home to rejoin his family after 42 days of captivity. The ANVC had placed a demand of Rs 30 lakh for his release. It is believed no ransom was paid to the abductors. ?It was the...

SHILLONG, Jan 29 ? Meghalaya Police is investigating possible British connection of the banned Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC). East Khasi Hills District SP, Ida Nongrang this evening told newsmen that the External Affairs Ministry has been approached to verify the antecedents of a British national, Timothy Paul Minds, student of Oxford Brooks University.

The development emerged after the police today arrested a HNCL overground activist in the State capital and recovered one American M-16 rifle and a Chinese assault rifle in a raid. The police also recovered some ammunition and...

Shillong, Jan. 27: Music, both traditional and western, has often been a key feature of electioneering in Meghalaya. But the Nationalist Congress Party?s latest innovation ? release of an audio cassette in praise of Purno A. Sangma ? has created ripples, especially among rural voters in Garo Hills.

The album, Chadambe Chasong Gitalrang (Youth of the new generation), ?very musically? appeals to the voters to vote the party to power.

?It is a different experience to hear such good Garo songs and that too on elections,? said Balsa Marak as she sang a line from the title song, P.A. Sangma...

Shillong, Jan. 23: Meghalaya chief minister F.A. Khonglam?s boat appears to be sinking, as cracks in the 13-month-old People?s Forum of Meghalaya (PFM) coalition have finally began to show.

With polls drawing closer, major allies in the ruling coalition are engaged in a fair amount of mud-slinging, indicating that power was what had kept them bound. With the polls knocking, the parties are going their separate ways, caring little for the coalition?s unity.

Meghalaya power minister Martle Mukhim today slammed the Congress and the NCP for making ?others the scapegoat of their actions?.

Mukhim...

Shillong, Jan. 22: The NCP?s one of the high-profile candidates-to-be ? chief minister F.A. Khonglam ? may, in fact, be denied nomination for the coming elections. Khonglam?s ?indecisiveness? ? he has so far masked his poll plans in secrecy ? may cost him an NCP ticket, with the patience of party leaders fast running out. Irked party leaders questioned the chief minister?s intentions, asking him to either formally apply for a ticket or declare if he wanted to go to the voters as an Independent.

NCP leaders are also angry over the fact that Khonglam, of late, has landed in several...

SHILLONG, Jan 21 ? It is promises galore for the people of Meghalaya in the poll manifesto of the Congress released here this morning. The party, if it gains the mandate of the people in the ensuing Assembly elections is pledge-bound to make the dream of Meghalaya as a land of peace and prosperity a living reality.

Former Chief Minister and Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president SC Marak, releasing the manifesto, however admitted ?whatever we had promised to the people in the last manifesto could not be implemented. He, however, qualified his admission by claiming ?it is not...