SHILLONG, SEP 13: National Peoples’ Party (NPP) national president and chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Wednesday formally welcomed former Mawsynram legislator Himalaya M Shangpliang to the party’s fold.
The induction ceremony of Shangpliang, who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was held in presence of party leaders and deputy chief ministers – Prestone Tynsong & Sniawbhalang Dhar – and former chief minister and chief adviser to the Government DD Lapang.
Addressing the occasion, Sangma said, “I am sure that we will be able to gain a lot from the joining of Shangpliang as a leader and also his entire supporters coming in and joining us, it will be a great boost to the party.”
The CM also lauded Shangpliang’s quality as a former legislator and recalled his contributions in the Assembly.
“You have seen him in the Assembly session. You have seen him how he is, someone who can really express and articulate and bring up the issues and concerns of the people even though it may be in an aggressive manner but the point is, he is not doing it for any personal reasons but he is doing it to bring up issues of the people.”
Urging the need to immediately reorganize the party, Sangma said, “As a national president, I would like to direct our state president that reorganization of the units, blocks, committees and frontal organizations must happen now immediately.”
“We have had six months of rest, now it’s time to get back to work. We must reorganize the party, we must activate it,” he added.
The NPP national president also directed to conduct a post-mortem on the performance of the party after the 2023 Assembly polls and submit a report keeping in mind the elections that are coming in the future.
“You must call for a review. Review all the results that place, in which polling station, in which particular area, what happened, why it happened, what did we expect, what went according to our expectations and what did not. It is important to do a complete post-mortem on the elections and have a report,” he said while adding “I would like to urge that we should call the meeting, call all our candidates who had contested in the last election, take a report and make sure that all our organizations are henceforth activated, so that we are able to make the party grow in the future keeping in mind so many organizational aspects, activities issues as well as elections that are coming in the future.”
Stating that the NPP is getting a great response from all over the North East, Sangma said, “This is because people see us as one of the only political parties that speaks about the issues of the North East and the people of the Northeast, be the tribals or any other indigenous communities that are there in the North-eastern part of India.”
“No other political party takes up issues like we do and hence keeping those aspects in mind we have your great response in many of the northeast states and keeping in mind the general elections that are coming up I can share with you that we have started doing a lot of homework in terms of how we should move forward in these elections,” he added.
Earlier while delivering his speech after joining the party, Shangpliang said he joined the NPP because Meghalaya is emerging as one of the leading states in the country under the dynamic leadership of Conrad K Sangma.
“I am very impressed with the emphasis given by the party for the development of the state. I could see that the government is focused on entrepreneurship, tourism, agro-processing, skilling of the youths and various livelihood sectors. It is these developments that magnifies the purpose of the party,” he said.
He also appreciates the efforts taken up by the MDA government to pursue with the Centre for implementation of the ILP and inclusion of the Khasi and Garo languages in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution.
“These issues and concerns taken up by the party for the welfare of the people of the state have persuaded and convinced me to be part of the growth today and hence I join the NPP today.
Today I commit myself to serve this party with all honesty and sincerity and to serve the people of the state to the best of my ability,” he said.
He also informed that more than 3,000 members have resigned from the previous party and joined the NPP in Mawsynram on Tuesday.