NE leaders met Edwards in Darjeeling

DARJEELING,: Tripura-based Tipra Motha Party (TMP) founder and royal scion Pradyot Kishore Manikya along with Meghalaya-based National People’s Party (NPP) working president James Sangma met the Indian Gokrha Janshakti Front (IGJF) president Ajoy Edwards on Saturday here at Darjeeling with him claiming it to be a step towards “unity among regional leadership”.

Speaking about the meeting Edwards said, “We feel that the north east States along with areas like Darjeeling, Leh Ladakh, and Uttarakhand among others are very small in area in the entire country. We feel that regionalism of such areas is important due to which we are trying to unite all of them.”

“Our future is somewhat related due to our tribal nature, Himalayan range and border State along with we having less representation in the parliament. We hope that we will work towards bringing all north east States and others coming together,” he added.

Maintaining that this visit was not political, Manikya said, “Some days back Edwards had come to Tripura and shown his support to our indigenous people, so I have come here to meet my friend as he was with us during our bad days. I felt that we should meet and talk to each other and show solidarity towards each other.”

He also stressed on the need of north east States along with areas like this helping each other in times of need.

Adding to that Sangma said, “After coming here we feel there is a need for a change of leadership here and we see a young dynamic leader in Edwards who wants to bring change here. We also have a political party in the North East and we want to give him moral support.” He also stressed on the need of solidarity between the people here and the north East.