NPP will continue to oppose Citizenship Bill: Conrad

National People's Party supremo and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday said the party will continue to oppose the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).

"Meghalaya was the first state in India to oppose the Bill and raise its objection. We took the initiative to unite different political parties of Northeast and made our voice heard in Delhi and ensured that the CAB was not introduced in the Rajya Sabha," he said while campaigning for the NPP candidate in the Lok Sabha polls in the state.

He claimed that the NPP is the only party that can unite the voice of the region and made it heard in Delhi.

Conrad asked the people to vote for the NPP as "NPP is the party of the Northeast."

The NPP chief on Monday flew to three different locations in North Garo Hills and East Garo Hills (Rongrong Abema, Mangsang and Chibonga respectively) to campaign for his sister Agatha, the NPP candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat.

Former Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma is the Congress candidate for the Tura Lok Sabha seat while the BJP has fielded Rikman G Momin.

He alleged that the Congress party is propagating a wrong notion that NPP will partner with BJP and will ensure that the CAB is passed in the Lok Sabha.

The NPP chief said, "We will remain true to our commitment promised to the people of Northeast and will never allow any bill that would hamper the interest of our people."

Conrad claimed that the NPP has "fulfilled" its promise made in the 2018 election with education as its top priority.

"We had promised education policy and we brought out the policy well ahead of completion of one year. For over four decades the education department had to work without any policy or direction, we have scripted a direction to move forward to ensure better educational facilities in Meghalaya," he said.

The NPP chief said that based on the education policy, the Meghalaya government approached the Union Ministry of Tribal Affairs and was accorded 11 Eklaveya Residential Model School (ERMS), out of 50 Schools across India.

He said that if Agatha is elected as MP, she will add to the initiative started by the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government and will voice our concerns in the Parliament.