Shillong, May 25: Burying their past differences, the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the United Democratic Party (UDP) today announced the forging of a " gathbandhan" with an aim to reap maximum benefits ahead of next year's Meghalaya Assembly polls.

After a series of meetings between the HSPDP and UDP, which have been taking place for the last few months, a decision was finally sealed today at the respective central executive committee meetings of the parties to forge a pre-poll alliance.

The seed of the alliance was sown by the HSPDP when in March-April, it offered not to field candidates in constituencies where the UDP nominees are potential winners as a step to ensure that the regional votes remain intact.

The alliance, which will entail seat-sharing between the two parties, will be concentrated on the Khasi-Jaintia hills region of the state.

The Meghalaya Assembly is a 60-member House, and the Khasi-Jaintia hills encompassing six districts, has 36 constituencies. The remaining 24 constituencies are in the five districts of the Garo hills.

While the HSPDP has no base in the Garo hills, the UDP has always made its presence felt in certain pockets of the state's western region. Announcing the decision to form the alliance, UDP president Donkupar Roy said both the parties' central executive committees "unanimously" approved the pre-poll pact.

Terming decision to forge the pre-poll alliance as "historic", HSPDP president Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said never before has such an alliance been formed in the state.

Both the leaders said the decision to forge the alliance was taken in the larger "interest of the people" while making it clear that there was no question of "merger" between the two parties at this juncture.

While forming the alliance, the parties also indicated that there would not be room for other parties to join the pre-poll pact, but did not rule out a post-poll coalition.

The BJP, which has been harping on a Congress-free India, could find the pre-poll alliance as peculiar because of the fact that while the UDP is part of the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (Neda), the HSPDP has never favoured the idea of joining the Neda.

However, the Neda, going by the Manipur elections earlier this year, was simply not an electoral alliance of non-Congress parties.

The HSPDP has always spoken about the need of forming a non-Congress and non-BJP government post the 2018 Assembly polls.

Apart from the BJP, other non-Congress parties like the National People's Party (NPP), which is part of both the Neda and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and the newly formed People's Democratic Front (PDF), could play a vital role in the post-poll scenario.

The BJP and Congress have already indicated their decision to go it alone into the electoral battle. With the Manipur elections in mind, the NPP could go ahead without entering into any alliance.

While mindful of rebels who would play spoilsport to the alliance as seats would have to be adjusted, the HSPDP and UDP expressed confidence that with mutual "determination" and "sacrifice", both the parties would be able to see light at the end of the tunnel.

"Since we are in an alliance, we have to be prepared to sacrifice," Roy said.

The parties have also formed a co-ordination committee which would work out the modalities concerning the alliance. The committee will be chaired by Roy with Basaiawmoit as the co-chair.

However, the alliance, which has 12 legislators in the Assembly, has not named any chief ministerial candidate.

Roy said it has always been the "convention" of regional parties to go into the polls without a chief ministerial face. So, while this alliance is seen as "exceptional" in the political realm of Meghalaya, the alliance will stick to "convention" in this new-found experiment.