Source: The Sangai Express / Newmai News Network
Kohima, October 12 2008:
Former Lok Sabha Speaker and General Secretary of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), PA Sangma has expressed that 10 years of peace was long enough to convince the people of Nagaland what peace could bring for them but the successive governments at the Centre has totally failed in delivering the goods.
The veteran politician, who was in Dimapur yesterday said that 10 years of peace is a long period when Government of India had the opportunity of proving itself in delivering goods, but unfortunately after more than one decade, the Government of India could not show any difference between the "insurgency time" and "peace time".
Recalling that during the time of Deve Gowda and I K Gujral as Prime Ministers, he was the Speaker of Lok Sabha and also involved in the process of ceasefire between the NSCN-IM and the Government of India, he said that today after more than a decade, I expected a lot of development in Nagaland.
However, he lamented that developments and peace talks are getting slow.
"The peace talks are taking a long time than it should," he said.
On the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government in Nagaland, PA Sangma expressed his happiness with the DAN government headed by Neiphiu Rio for successfully managing the coalition.
He also informed that in the forthcoming election, DAN will have a common candidate and Rio will be authorized to choose the consensus candidate, for which NCP will give full support.
Asked about the NCP's policy of having different coalition with at the Centre and the Northeast, Sangma said that the party does not have any �dual policy, but is following its policy according to the time and situation where coalition governments have become very important.
He said that the NCP is opposed to BJP at the Centre but they are partners in coalition governments in Meghalaya and Nagaland.
"We have to go by the current political trend," he explained.
He said that in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, NCP is likely to go with the Congress in Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Rajasthan, but as far as the Northeastern states are concerned, each individual state have been given the authority to decide the course of action.
For Nagaland and Meghalaya, where there are non-Congress governments, Sangma said that the NCP is hopeful of putting up a common candidate by the respective coalition partners.
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