GUWAHATI: The BJP President Amit Shah will chair the third conference of North East Democratic
Alliance (NEDA) here on Sunday to discuss the strategy of the party for Lok Sabha polls 2019 in respect
of the Northeastern states including Sikkim.
Meanwhile, Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity (KMSS), an influential NGO that is leading the protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has called for ‘black flag’ protests on Sunday to express the people’s anguish over the Bill before visiting BJP president Amit Shah.
A senior BJP leader in Assam informed that the NEDA conference would be attended by all the party MPs, ministers, MLAs and political appointees from the northeastern states besides senior party leaders of the region. Chief minister of Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland , Sikkim are expected to attend the NEDA conference tomorrow.
He informed that the NEDA meeting would focus on the party’s approach and strategy vis-à-vis the next
Lok Sabha polls to be held in 2019 besides other organization matters. The meeting will also take stock
of the function of the coalition governments in the Northeastern states where BJP is either heading the
government or being one of the key constituents of the coalition.
He, however said that there would be no discussion in the NEDA conference on the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and the process of NRC update in Assam even though the timing of the NEDA conference assumes significance given the raging protests in Assam against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 proposed by the BJP government in the Centre.
The NEDA was constituted by the BJP in 2016 as a joint platform with like-minded regional political
parties in N-E states to give boost to the BJP’s oust-Congress campaign in the region in coordination
with these regional political groups.