With Assembly elections less than a month away, the United Democratic Party (UDP) today said that being a part of the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition government was a “mistake”.With nine legislators, the UDP is the second largest coalition partner. But this did not stop the regional party from attacking the Congress as electioneering picks up in the state.Kicking off the campaign in Shillong today, party president and Deputy Chief Minister Donkupar Roy said the Congress-led MDA government was not “people friendly”. He blamed the Congress for not initiating programmes that would benefit the people.“The Congress never came up with any policy for using the local resources for the benefit of the people,” he said, addressing party workers here. He said the industrial and power policies of the Congress-led government have not satisfied the people and neither has the government managed to channelise the resources for the benefit of the state.“Many projects failed because of failure in planning and delivery stages,” he said. Other UDP leaders like P T Sawkmie and party vice-president S D Khongwir continued in the same vein. “The Congress is a shrinking party. In 1982, the Congress ruled in 20 states, but by 2007 the count was down to 12. This shows the party’s decline and the emergence of regional parties,” said party spokesperson Bindo M Lanong.
