TURA, Dec 8 � The newly- formed tribal centric party of Purno A Sangma, the National People�s Party, held a regional conference in Sangma�s stronghold of Garo Hills recently.
The NPP national working president and five time MP Arvind Netam attended the rally at the Tura MP stadium.
In his address to the supporters who numbered between five and six thousand, Purno A Sangma attacked the Congress for targeting him over the foreign issue of Sonia Gandhi and his shifting of parties.
�Who in the Congress apart from Sonia Gandhi and Rahul haven�t left the party? Pranab Mukherjee formed the Bangla Congress, Arjun Singh and N D Tiwari formed Tiwari Congress, P Chidambaram and Moopanar formed the TMC. Even Ambika Soni had also left the party. But they all returned for power and position. P A Sangma will never return to the Congress,� announced the former Lok Sabha speaker which got greeted with claps from his supporters.
He also claimed that the government was trying to use the CBI to investigate him but failed because there was nothing to investigate.
Bringing back the issue of foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi which led to direct confrontation with the Congress, he said he had no regrets. �No one dared to raise the issue but I alone brought it up at the meeting. Only a Garo stood up against a foreigner trying to take control of our nation,� he boasted.
�Tribals can no longer be trampled of their rights. We will govern ourselves. When a black can become the president of USA why can�t a tribal and a Christian be in their own land. Why is there injustice?� Sangma questioned while reminding the public of his contest against Pranab Mukherjee during the presidential polls.
The National working president of the NPP, Arvind Netam said that the Meghalaya elections which will take place next year will signal things to come in other tribal regions of the country. According to him, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chattisgarh have huge tribal populations and elections are coming up there soon.
The former Dy CM and sitting Resubelpara MLA Timothy D Shira attacked the ruling Congress for claiming all round development which is not what is taking place on the ground.
