Itanagar, Apr 7 (IANS): Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People's Party (NPP) chief Conrad K. Sangma on Sunday said that his party is a partner of the NDA but when it comes to the issues of the northeast's people and the indigenous communities, it would always be the first to stand up for their rights.

"We would work with NDA as we have an alliance, but whenever we have to fight for the cause of northeast, or Arunachal Pradesh or Meghalaya, we would stand up for our people. I assure you that we will always stand up and fight for our people," he told the gathering here as he wrapped up his three-day election campaign tour to the state.

The NPP, which won five seats in the 2019 Arunachal Pradesh assembly elections, has put up 22 candidates for the April 19 elections to the 60-member Assembly.

Accompanied by other leaders, during his election campaign tour, Sangma visited Longding, Leparada, and Dumporjio.

"NPP believes in the interest of our people, and whatever decision we take, we will keep our people and our country first,” he said, adding: "People have given their mandate to us, and we cannot break the trust of our people. We shall work with passion and full commitment to further the interest of our people."

About the development and economic growth of Arunachal Pradesh, he said the NPP needs good people with experience and vision and has many retired administrative officers and government servants who have joined the party to work as a team to further the development and growth of the region.

On Meghalaya’s growth model, the Chief Minister said that his state government has initiated programmes for the farmers, women, and the youth.

"We have streamlined interventions that directly and indirectly will upscale the socio-economic condition of our people. Our entrepreneurship programmes have won accolades from the government of India and international agencies for the best start-up ecosystem. We believe that our candidates, when elected, will take a cue from our model and replicate the same in Arunachal Pradesh."

The NPP President also said that in a democracy, numbers are always important, and "if we want to make Delhi take us seriously, we have to empower our own home-grown party so that we are taken seriously, and our concerns are addressed".

Sangma said that in the past, Delhi ignored the MPs from the northeast when they raised their concerns, but the scenario is slowly changing as the leaders of the region are standing united for the cause of the people.

"We should take conscious political decisions, choose leaders who can articulate our aspirations and voice," he said. Though the NPP is contesting the Arunachal Assembly polls, the party has announced support to the BJP's Lok Sabha candidates -- Kiren Rijiju (Arunachal West) and Tapir Gao (Arunachal East).