New Delhi / Agartala, Sep 6 ( IANS /TIWN) : Echoing the “Congress-mukt (free) North East” slogan, BJP president Amit Shah on Tuesday expressed confidence that the party-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) will form governments in the remaining three of the eight states in the region.

Addressing the second NEDA conclave here, Shah said infiltration, vote-bank politics and political use of killer groups have derailed the North East’s development.

“I think we are successfully progressing towards that direction. In five of the eight states, we have chief ministers who are members of the NEDA. I am confident that in the upcoming elections, in all the eight states NEDA will be successful in forming the government,” Shah said.

“I hope in the next annual conference all the eight chief ministers will be sitting here and NEDA represents all the eight states,” he added. “The region’s development suffered a lot because nothing was done to stop infiltration, to bring the militants to the mainstream and to stop smuggling,” Shah said.

“Despite potential it did not develop as much. There is potential in the scenic beauty of the region which can be utilised in tourism to generate employment. In 65 years, since the time of Jawaharlal Nehru to Manmohan Singh-ji whatever Congress governments have done for the region, we have done in three years many times more than them,” he said.

Earlier, Assam’s Health and Finance Minister Sharma and convenor NEDA said NEDA is an alliance of parties which is concerned about development of the North East region and making it Congress-mukt. “We are working towards that,” he asserted.

Nagaland chief minister, T.R. Zeliang accompanied by Lok Sabha MP and NPF president, Neiphiu Rio along with NPF Manipur president, Awangbow Newmai on Tuesday attended the 2nd NEDA conclave held at Maharastra Sadan, New Delhi.

According to CMO media cell, Zeliang while addressing the conclave highlighted the plight of nearly 2000 Hindi Teachers in the State whose services were on the verge of termination due to its co-terminus nature as per guidelines of the CSS schemes.

Zeliang requested the Central government to give special impetus to the matter. “The service of Hindi Teachers in Nagaland are co-terminus with the schemes introduced in the State and this has to be rectified to secure their future while paying special attention in imparting Hindi education in the entire NE region,” he said.

The chief minister also reiterated his appeal to the Prime Minister for immediate relief and restoration of infrastructure damaged during the recent floods in the state.

“Immediate attention is required considering the magnitude in terms of loss of human lives and damages caused to private and public properties alike,” he said while informing that the state government would soon be submitting a comprehensive plan in this regard.

Zeliang further raised the issue of poor air connectivity in the state. The chief minister called for urgent improvement of air connectivity without further delay. He also requested the Centre to introduce the visa checking system in the North East to ease movement of goods and citizens across the international borders of South-East Asian Countries and also considering the tourism, trade and commerce. 

The conclave was attended by BJP national president, Amit Shah, BJP national general secretary, Ram Madhav; MoS DoNER, Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS Home, Kiren Rijiju, chief ministers of NE states-- Sarbananda Sonowal, Pawan Kumar Chamling, Pema Khandu and Biren Singh, Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma, Zoramthanga, Atul Borah, Hagrama Mohilary, Paramananda Chayangia, Paul Lyndoh, Conrad Sangma, Rajen Gohain and others.