Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad K Sangma sought to inspire members of the party’s youth wing today during the third National People’s Youth Front (NPYF) state conference here.
The timing of the conference is important in rallying the foot soldiers as there are just a few weeks before the Lok Sabha elections, with two autonomous district council polls also in the offing.
Addressing the gathering, Sangma said that running a party takes a lot of dedication and sacrifice. The NPP was created by his father, the late Purno A Sangma, from nowhere when the latter split from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). At its first real test in 2013, the NPP scored badly in the Assembly election, winning only two seats; even Sangma found himself out of the legislature. Five years later, and having taken over from his deceased father, he led the NPP to power and then increasing its seat share in 2023.
The party president said that despite these challenges one still needs to keep going since one has faith and believes that what one is doing is right and for the larger interest.
Purno was one of the founding members of the NCP in 1999 when a section of the Congress Party left the fold over the ‘foreignness’ of Sonia Gandhi as leader of the party. Barely into his 20s at that point, Sangma recalled travelling with his father all over the North East where they spoke to villagers, sometimes with only two to five people listening to them.
