NEDA for development, 'Congress-mukt' northeast: BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said the purpose of North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) is to develop the region and make it Congress-free.

"NEDA is a political platform but BJP President Amit Shah has said that apart from pursuing a political objective, we should also talk about economy and bringing about an emotional integration in the region," Sarma said at the second conclave of NEDA here.

"It is an alliance of parties that are concerned about the development of Northeast and about making it Congress-mukt. We are working towards that," he said.

Sarma is the Convener of NEDA, which is a coalition between the BJP and various regional political parties of the northeast.

He said that three states -- Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram -- that did not have BJP governments were not participating in the conclave, but representatives from different parties of these states were attending.

"The three states are not participating for obvious reasons but important political parties of these states are present in the meeting," he said.

"These party representatives have raised very specific issues which have been noted down by our president," he added.

--IANS

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