Regional parties seethe against Congress

Posted by Sinlung

- Small groups, Delhi dreams
A child plays with flags during an election rally at Williamnagar in East Garo Hills on Tuesday. Picture by Eastern Projections
Guwahati, April 15 : The regional parties of the Northeast are looking for options to jointly influence the formation of the next government at the Centre, especially a non-Congress one.
Notwithstanding their present alliance and seat-sharing arrangements, the parties have initiated discussions to evolve a “workable formula” which would enable them to be an “influential factor” in government-making.
The man behind the movement is former Lok Sabha Speaker and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Purno A. Sangma and the common rallying point of the parties is their stiff opposition to the Congress.
“Our main purpose will be to see that a non-Congress government is formed at the Centre because the Congress has this uncanny habit of destabilising regional party governments in smaller states,” Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio said.
He should know. Rio’s government was unceremoniously dismissed in 2007, just months before it was to complete its term, and President’s rule imposed in the state. Rio, however, bounced back to power after the Assembly elections in February last year.
To work out the “workable formula” that would bond the regional parties together, Rio recently held a threadbare meeting with Sangma at the Nagaland House here.
The rethinking is triggered by the realisation that the BJP-led NDA might not manage to get the requisite number to take a shot at government formation.
Rio, however, said his party, the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), was not in favour of floating a common platform of regional parties immediately.
“We tried floating such a platform in the past, but it did not work. This time, we are trying to come out with a workable formula which will enable us to remain as a group so that we have enough bargaining power in Delhi,” he said. He did not elaborate on the “working formula”.
Rio said he was in touch with the AGP and the leaders of other regional parties in the Northeast.
The AGP has a seat-sharing adjustment with the BJP in this Lok Sabha election. But AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary made it very clear that his party was yet to be part of any alliance, meaning the AGP is keeping its post-poll option open.
Rio, too, said all post-poll options were open. “We are weighing all possibilities of forming a non-Congress government at the Centre. It could be the NDA, a third front on its own or a third front-led government backed by the Congress or the BJP from outside.”
In Nagaland, Rio is running a government with the constituents of both the NDA and the UPA. “The BJP, which is leading the NDA, and the NCP, which is in the UPA, are part of my government. In Meghalaya, the NCP is fighting the Congress despite supporting the Congress-led government at the Centre,” Rio said while insisting that political equations would further change after elections.
Rio’s NPF is already providing “logistic (read financial) support” to some of the regional parties and Independents. He is also planning to extend the NPF’s base to Naga-dominated areas of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
UDP hits out
A day after Congress president Sonia Gandhi heaped scorn on smaller parties for creating instability in Meghalaya by switching allegiance, United Democratic Party president Donkupar Roy hit back, saying it was the Congress that encouraged defection and instability in the state.
At an election rally held here yesterday, Sonia said, “The voters should reject parties, small groupings, and individuals who have shifting loyalties, narrow and divisive agenda with no regard for the national interest and no vision for the future.”
Roy today said the UDP (a major constituent of the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance) had never shifted allegiance. Rather, it was the Congress that had always been instrumental in creating instability by actively encouraging defection.
“In fact, Sonia should advise the state Congress leaders to give up the old habit of encouraging defection,” he added.
He said Sonia should practice what she preached and what was happening in the state was the result of the Congress’s clever move to divide regional parties and other small groups for its own gain.
Alleged Congress-engineered defections had reduced the NCP-UDP-led MPA to 27 from a strength of 33 in the 60-member House, triggering a political crisis and imposition of President’s rule.
Initially four legislators — Independents Limison Sangma and Ismail Marak, Paul Lyngdoh of the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) and Sanbor Shullai of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) came out of the MPA fold for the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance. This was followed by the resignation of two UDP MLAs, Nimarson Momin and Ampareen Lyngdoh, from the Assembly.
Roy also said though Sonia was attacking the smaller parties, the Congress always depended on these parties to form the government in Meghalaya.
“National parties like the Congress do not know the ground reality in Meghalaya as they are Delhi-centric. During elections, the central leaders of the party come to Meghalaya and pass comments which are devoid of any truth,” he added.