It will, however, continue to be a part of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance-government, led by the National People’s Party. The MDA government is backed by the BJP
Meghalaya’s United Democratic Party (UDP) on February 20 walked out of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) over The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill.
It will, however, continue to be a part of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, led by the National People’s Party (NPP). The BJP also supports the MDA. At present, UDP has seven MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly.
The UDF was part of NEDA since its formation in 2016.
According to a report in The Telegraph, UDP Vice President Allantry Franklin Dkhar said the party decided to quit after seeing 'BJP’s aggressiveness to pass the bill'.
BJP National President Amit Shah had earlier said his party would bring the controversial bill back if it retains power in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. The bill stands to officially lapse on June 3 as it was not passed by the Rajya Sabha till the time the 16th Lok Sabha was been adjourned sine die.
UDP’s Working President Paul Lyndoh told The Economic Times: “We have decided to leave NEDA as there is a mismatch between UDP and BJP's ideology. BJP wants to bring in the citizenship bill, which is against the indigenous people of the region. We are against the Bill.”
Moneycontrol could not independently verify the reports.
The saffron part has been pushing for The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal immigrants (Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan) eligible for Indian citizenship.
The bill is facing severe opposition from multiple regional parties in the northeast – many of which are BJP allies. Passage of the bill in the Winter Session of Lok Sabha had forced one of its allies -- the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) -- to quit the alliance.
Earlier this month, NPP chief and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma had threatened that his party will quit the BJP-led alliance if the proposed legislation was passed in the Rajya Sabha.
Besides being in power in Meghalaya, the NPP backs the BJP governments in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and the saffron party-backed government in Nagaland.
The development comes ahead of the general election expected to happen in April-May. The BJP, along with its partners, is hoping to make major inroads into the northeast to offset some of the losses it is expected to face in the northern India.
