NPP, NPF to back BJP-led government in Manipur

The party chiefs of the National People's Party (NPP) and the Naga People's Front (NPF) on Tuesday said they will support a non-Congress government in Manipur led by the BJP.

NPP supremo Conrad K. Sangma said a non-Congress government would soon be formed in Manipur and his party would support the BJP-led alliance government.

Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu said his Naga People's Front (NPF) party will be supporting the BJP-led coalition government in his neighbouring state of Manipur.

"We are waiting only for the invitation from the Governor (Najma Heptulla) to invite us to form the new government," Sangma told IANS.

He said the Naga People's Front has also handed a letter of support to Heptulla confirming its support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance government in Manipur.

The NPF, which won four seats in the just-concluded assembly elections, has also paraded its newly-elected legislators before the Governor, Sangma said. Both NPP and NPF have won four seats each in the Manipur assembly elections.

"All the legislators (non-Congress) are intact," added Sangma, the lone NPP Lok Sabha member.

Shurhozelie, who is also the NPF supremo said, said that it "did not put pre-conditions" before joining the BJP-led coalition arrangement in Manipur.

The NPF and NPP are major coalition partners of the North East Democratic Alliance formed in May last year in Assam's main city of Guwahati with the declared aim of ridding the region of the Congress party and to bring all-round development to the northeastern part of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The NPF has been in alliance with the BJP and other non-Congress political parties in Nagaland since 2003 under the banner and nomenclature of Democratic Alliance of Nagaland.

--IANS

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