DIMAPUR, May 3 – Former Prime Minister and JD(S) president HD Deve Gowda on Sunday said the United Front Government under him was the first regime at the Centre to make serious efforts to remove regional imbalances and solve the insurgency problem in the North East.
“I have been the only Prime Minister who visited the region for seven consecutive days and announced the first economic development package to remove the infrastructure bottlenecks in the North East,” Deve Gowda told PTI here. The former Prime Minister said he was aware of the long-felt demands and needs of the people of the region and the erstwhile UF Government had made sincere efforts to remove the feeling of alienation.
“During my Prime Ministership we created non-lapsable pool of Central resources for the NE States by directing all the Central Ministries and Departments to contribute at least five per cent of the Budget allocation to the pool,” he recalled. Referring to the on-going Naga peace process, he said he was the first to have met the NSCN(I-M) leadership in Geneva in 1997 and convinced them to hold political dialogue and the ceasefire. “I silently initiated the peace process without giving much publicity in the media,” Deve Gowda said.
When asked whether he was happy with the pace of the peace talks now, he said: “No doubt the NDA Government followed up the process but it had a different political agenda to make inroads into the North East and Nagaland.” Deve Gowda was here to campaign for the JD(S) candidate Akhei Achumi. Polls for the lone Lok Sabha seat in the State would be held on May 5.