From Our Special Correspondent
Guwahati/Aizawl: The National People’s Party may not have won a single seat in the Mizoram Assembly elections but the party which made its debut in the hill state just a little over two months back, has high hopes of making its presence felt in the years to come. NPP was launched in Mizoram on September 29 this year, barely two months before the elections to the 40-member state Assembly.
The party had contested eight seats in the November 28 elections, which saw the Mizo National Front securing a clear majority, winning 26 seats.
“Mizoram is extremely different if you look at the political history. It takes time to establish a new party in the state. As a matter of fact, it has taken Bharatiya Janata Party as long as 22 years to win one seat in the state. NPP was launched in the state just a few weeks ahead of the polls but we have high hopes that we will be able to progress much faster than the other parties,” NPP national secretary and co-convener of the party in Mizoram, Dr Lalrina told The Shillong Times on phone from Aizawl on Wednesday.
A constituent of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), NPP, is the major partner of the alliance government in Meghalaya. In Nagaland and Manipur, it partners the ruling alliance, while it has a presence in Arunachal Pradesh with seven MLAs.
“Frankly speaking, the outcome was in accordance with our expectations, which were not very high, after the launch and our candidates too had just about three weeks to campaign. But we feel that it is a positive outcome as our (NEDA) partner, MNF, has come to power. So we are happy for them,” he said.
NPP launched its campaign in Mizoram with the slogan — “One Voice, One Northeast”. Prior to it, in August, the party had made its debut in Assam with the opening of a unit in Dima Hasao district.
NPP national president and Meghalaya chief minister, Conrad Sangma had recently said that it wanted to connect the states of the Northeast and take the issues of the region to the corridors of power. “The party has a mission for the Northeast and is focused on working for the people of the region. We are growing from strength to strength,” Sangma had said recently.