NEDA big failure: Congress

SHILLONG, July 30: Amidst the rising tension between some North-Eastern states and Assam over boundary disputes, the Opposition Congress in Meghalaya has castigated the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) for being a big failure in uniting the states in the region.
The NEDA is a political coalition the Bharatiya Janata Party had formed on May 24, 2016, as an anti-Congress front of regional parties. Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was appointed the convenor of this front.
Opposition Chief Whip PT Sawkmie said the NEDA has been a big let-down by failing to unite the political parties and the states in the region.
He said this with reference to the violent Assam-Mizoram border clash and skirmishes at Iongkhuli village along the Assam-Meghalaya border on July 26.
The United Democratic Party in Meghalaya was a part of the NEDA but pulled out after the controversy over the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Sawkmie said the formation of NEDA did not stop Assam from acting as the “big brother” in the North East. “Assam continues to encroach land and its Chief Minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma speaks in a manner conveying that he does not care for the other states in the region,” he said.
“We thought NEDA would accelerate the pace of development but now we are seeing that all the North-Eastern states have been left to find their own way to development,” he added.
Sarma, however, said the NEDA has no role to play in a border tussle between two states.