SHILLONG: UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh has dismissed reports claiming that nine of the party’s 12 MLAs are planning to join the BJP, describing the reports as nothing more than “figments of imagination”.
Lyngdoh also rejected reports that UDP MLAs had travelled to Delhi, Guwahati and Kolkata to meet BJP leaders as part of a plan to switch parties.
Clarifying the matter, he said the nine UDP MLAs who travelled to Delhi had gone there to meet the Union Home Minister over issues related to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
He further said that four MLAs — Pius Marwein, Balajied Synrem, Kyrmen Shylla and Shynshar Lyngdoh — travelled to Kolkata for personal reasons.
According to the UDP president, he has spoken with all the party MLAs and none of them has expressed any intention of leaving the UDP or joining the BJP.
“There is no such thing,” Lyngdoh said, dismissing the reports of a possible mass defection.
He also appealed to the media to properly verify information before publishing reports, while asserting that there is no crisis within the UDP at present.
The reports of a possible move by UDP MLAs to the BJP had triggered speculation about the political stability of the regional party in Meghalaya.