Alliance, a paradigm shift in co-operative federalism
SHILLONG: Though HSPDP president Ardent M. Basaiawmoit is not keen to be part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the door is still open for other non Congress parties in the region to be associated with the alliance, said UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh.
Lyngdoh, who attended the launch of NEDA in Guwahati on Wednesday, said the meeting was of the view that more non- Congress political parties should join the forum.
“The door is not closed for other parties to join the alliance as the meeting decided that there will be more co-ordination within NEDA and more political parties will be invited to join the forum,” Lyngdoh said on Thursday.
Asked whether HSPDP will be requested to be part of NEDA, Lyngdoh said, “The door is still open, but we cannot compel those political parties which flatly refuse any pre poll alliance.”
Commenting about the NEDA meeting, Lyngdoh said it was a good beginning as most importantly NEDA provided the much needed co-operative federalism in the North East.
Without directly referring to the Congress, Lyngdoh said, “All along we had the culture of the ‘high command’ issuing decrees and diktats to those at the lower level.”
However, Lyngdoh said in a change from the past, there is a paradigm shift with NEDA focusing on cooperative federalism and added that even BJP national president Amit Shah had made it clear that all the political parties which are part of NEDA will get the same status. According to Lyngdoh, non- Congress political parties now have a common ground under NEDA banner to focus on the growth and development of the region.
He said that once the growth and development is achieved, this will automatically result in achieving installation of non- Congress governments in the North East.
