The National People’s Party (NPP) has decided to sever ties with the BJP-led NDA government if the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB) is passed in Rajya Sabha.
This decision was taken at the national general body meeting here on Saturday which was attended by party leaders, MLAs from the North Eastern states and other parts of the country.
The meeting also unanimously re-elected Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma as the national president of the party.
Sangma told reporters that the meeting took an unanimous decision to oppose the the Citizenship Amendment Bill and the resolution has been passed which will be sent to the Central government not to go ahead with the bill in Rajya Sabha.
“At the same time, the national general body meeting also decided that if this Bill is passed in the Rajya Sabha, the NPP will break its ties with the NDA,” Sangma informed.
The NPP is an ally of the NDA government and formed the government together in Manipur as well as in Meghalaya.
The NPP which is leading the government in Meghalaya has 20 MLAs in the State Assembly and four MLAs in Manipur. The BJP is supporting the NPP-led government in Meghalaya while the NPP’s four MLAs are supporting the BJP-led government in Manipur.
The meeting also decided to contest 24 seats in North East in 2019 Lok Sabha election and the 60 seats in State Assembly election to Arunachal Pradesh, said an NPP Communication Cell press communique.
“As a party we are keen to contest all the Lok Sabha seats in the Northeast. We will work out a mechanism and see how we can go forward. We as party want to play a pivotal role in voicing the concerns of the people and provide them a common platform to champion the cause of Northeast,” said NPP national president Conrad K Sangma.
The meeting had threadbare discussion on measures to strengthen the party in all the State of the Northeast for the upcoming election as well as formation of the party unit in the State of Assam, where the State Unit will be officially launched on February 17.
The GBM was attended by party functionaries from different parts of the Northeast, including representative from the national body comprising leaders like Prestone Tynsong, Joykumar Singh Yumnam, Dr. DD Lapang, James Sangma, Dr. Lalrintluanga Jahau, Sashank Gataraj Sonelal Kol, Inder Bahadur Pandey, S.K. Sarkar, amongst others.
All the States submitted reports with regards to political scenario during the meeting.