Meghalaya: Deputy CM Prestone confident of NPP forming government after 2023 elections

Meghalaya Deputy Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) national vice president Prestone Tynsong on Tuesday, December 6 expressed confidence that his party will form the government on its own in 2023.

When asked, the NPP leader said that he doesn’t see other political parties as a threat nor should they also see NPP as a threat because elections in Meghalaya are totally different.

“I keep telling you that elections are totally different in Meghalaya. People of Meghalaya, when they decide to vote for any candidate, it is done according to their own choice, according to their relationship, their closeness with that particular candidate – so the question of party here is secondary. But primarily, I am telling you, that winning election in the state of Meghalaya, I have seen and I have done my research, people do not elect the candidate on the basis of party line but they elect on the basis on their personal line,” he said.

Meanwhile, the deputy CM on December 7 lashed out at All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) national spokesperson Saket Gokhale terming him as ‘psycho’ for his allegations of financial irregularities. Prestone added that the state government will file a defamation suit against Gokhale for trying to spoil the government’s image.

“I personally feel he (Gokhale) has become like a psycho as this man keeps making such allegations about the functioning of the state government. Now we have no more patience. By tomorrow, we will have to file a defamation case against him,'' Tynsong added.

The development comes after Gokhale alleged large-scale financial irregularities worth Rs 632 crore in the Meghalaya Ecotourism Infrastructure Development Project (MEIDP) by an IAS officer Dr Vijay Kumar.