HSPDP issues manifesto for Meghalaya

The Hills State Peoples Democratic Party (HSPDP), one of the regional parties in Meghalaya with four MLAs at present, today resolved to seek Union government implementation of special provisions for states to make laws under Article 371 as is the case of Mizoram and Nagaland.
The party which has entered into a pre-poll alliance with the United Democratic Party (UDP) ahead of February 27 polls in the state wanted that the state legislature be given mandate to legislate its own laws relating to land ownership and minerals, culture and religion and traditional laws.
The issues relating to the creation of a separate Khasi-Jaintia state, which the party had demarcated as those areas falling under the erstwhile United Khasi Jaintia Hills district, the resolution of the inter-state boundary dispute and opposition to uranium mining and railways, have also featured in the partys manifesto as was in 2013.

The party which was in the Opposition in the last five years, however, lamented that the party could have done and make its promises happen had it been in power, HSPDP president Ardent Basaiawmoit said.
The HSPDP president has been one of the most vocal legislators when it came to the inter-state boundary dispute and uranium mining and social issues during the assembly sessions.
The HSPDP, which has fielded 13 candidates in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region, has also expressed optimism that the party will improve its tally in the Assembly this time and will form the next government with its ally, the UDP.