Meghalaya chief minister and National Peoples’ Party (NPP) leader Conrad Sangma on Wednesday said that the party will contest in all the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the northeastern states.
Sangma said this while interacting with the media on the sidelines of a programme to inaugurate the NPP Assam unit office in Guwahati.
“We are trying to contest in as many as seats in the Lok Sabha elections. In the last meeting of the party, which was held in Shillong, we have decided to contest in all the 25 Lok Sabha seats,” he said and further clarified the reason behind the decision.
“Number matters in politics. The voice of northeast is often not heard in New Delhi. Our father Late PA Sangma took this step to make the voice of northeast heard in Delhi. We are just trying to take it further,” said Sangma while appealing to the people of the northeast to be united so that the voices of the region can be heard.
Referring to the recent move over Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016, Sangma said that the Centre listened to the voice when citizen’s groups and students’ bodies all came together to oppose the Bill.
He said that ‘Look East’ or ‘Act East’ would not work until we decide to work for the region. “This is our land and until we act or we look, no policy will be made for the people of the region,” he said adding that NPP’s main agenda is to give voice to the northeast and raise the issues of the region politically.