The Hindu : Sangma meets Vajpayee

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jan 19, 2004

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Sangma meets Vajpayee

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JAN. 18. The `dissident' Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader, P.A. Sangma, met the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, here this evening to explore the possibility of an electoral "alliance/adjustment'' between the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the North-East People's Forum (NEPF) — a conglomerate of 17 political parties with a presence in the region — in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The interaction took place a day ahead of a formal meeting of the NEPF in the capital to formalise its strategy for the polls and amid speculation of Mr. Sangma engineering a split in the NCP by taking along with him the entire North-East unit of the party, in the wake of its decision to align with the Congress. The various constituents of the NEPF — barring the NCP, most are supporting the NDA — met informally in the capital today and a final decision is likely to be taken at Monday.

Talking to reporters after his meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr. Sangma said the various constituents of the NEPF were yet to decide whether to fight from a single platform or to go to the polls with their individual identities. About the NCP leader, Sharad Pawar's efforts to make him toe the party line, he said: "Mr. Pawar has his own political compulsions and I fully appreciate it. Similarly, I have my own compulsions and he appreciates that.

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