Regiol parties yet to come under one banner in Meghalaya

NORTH EAST DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE

FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, June 26: Despite BJP’s tireless effort to group the anti-Congress parties in the Northeast by forming the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the coalition may not yet be able to convince all regiol political parties to come under the same umbrella to wipe out the Congress in Meghalaya.

Recently, the alliance (NEDA) organised its first meeting in Guwahati where it was decided to form working groups to tackle major issues confronting the region. The tiol People’s Party (NPP) and United Democratic Party (UDP) of Meghalaya, who are part of the NEDA, attended the meeting. But another major regiol political party of the state - Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) - was conspicuous by its absence. Other smaller regiol parties of the state like the Khun Hynniewtrep tiol Awakening Movement (KHM) and the Garo tiol Council (GNC) are also not in the NEDA till date. Both the KHM and the GNC does not have any MLA in the Assembly.  

According to reports, the non-Congress parties in Meghalaya may go for an alliance by following the experiment of non- Congress political parties in Assam which came under one banner to oust the Congress from power.

In 2014, after the elections to the KHADC, a conglomerate of regiol parties like the HSPDP, UDP and KHM had floated the All Regiol Parties Alliance (ARPA) and subsequently had formed the Executive Committee. However, a few months later, members of the alliance revolted against CEM-Basaiawmoit and he had to quit.