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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 20:50
11 northeast parties join hands ahead of Lok Sabha polls, form front.
GUWAHATI: Regional parties of the northeast have decided to come together and float a political front ahead of the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. At the initiative of Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), at least 11 regional political parties on Sunday formed the North East Regional Political Front (NERPF) to press the Centre to solve the "common and vital issues" of the region.
This front will include all major regional parties—AGP, Nagaland People's Front (NPF), Mizo National Front (MNF), Sikkim Democratic Front, Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) and several other parties from Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. The front has also left its doors open for other regional forces.
In a show of solidarity, Akali Dal leader and former chief minister of Punjab Surjit Singh Barnala attended the meeting of the NERPF on Sunday. On Monday, Telugu Desam Party chief Chandra Babu Naidu is also likely to arrive here to attend an AGP meeting. Recently, Prafulla Mahanta and Naidu had a meeting in New Delhi to explore ways to bring all regional parties of the country under one umbrella.
The timing of formation of the regional alliance is significant with the Lok Sabha election coming up in a few months, especially considering that the northeastern states together have a strength of 25 MPs in the lower house. The alliance, however, refrained from terming itself a 'third front'. "This is a political forum and only time will decided the strategy of the front in the polls. It's too early to say whether we will support BJP or any other party," said Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio, who is the convener of the NERPF.
Focused on safeguarding the territorial, cultural, social, political and economical developments of the entire region, the front announced it would take on vital issues affecting the northeast that have been ignored by the current Congress-led UPA government.
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