Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma who is the national president of National People’s Party (NPP) arrived on a two-day visit to Manipur to launch the election campaign for the party candidate Thangminlien Kipgen in the state.
Soon after arriving in Imphal, he drove straight to the hotel and addressed a press conference wherein he announced the party’s activities in the Northeast states for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh.
The deputy chief minister, Yumnam Joykumar, health minister L Jayentakumar and tribal affairs and fisheries minister N Kayisii, functionaries of the NPP including working president Ajang Khongsai and the youth front leaders also attended the press conference.
“We are here to strengthen the party,” stated Sangma. “We’re putting up around 10 to 12 candidates in the Northeast besides 30-35 candidates in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly polls,” he further informed.
“So far, names of six candidates in Assam, one each in Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Manipur have been announced and we expect to name two more in the second list for Assam,” he added. The stand of the party was taken during the general body meeting held in Shillong recently.
Responding to queries, the NPP national president said, “We have multiple coalition partners in the region and each party has its own right to strengthen their respective parties and we have to respect the decision,” informing that the party will “work together” with their coalition partners in the constituencies where their coalition partners have projected their respective candidates.
In Meghalaya, NPP will work together with UDP in Shillong constituency, he said, adding that similarly the party will work with their coalition partner in the inner Manipur parliamentary constituency.
It may be noted that Naga People’s Front (NPF), a major coalition partner of the ruling front in Manipur, has also put up Lorho Mao as their candidate in the outer Manipur parliamentary constituency.