NFP Under The Leadership of Jai Ram Reddy
A second election to resolve the impasse was held in September that year, resulting in a heavy defeat for the NFP after it had split into two factions known as the Dove and Flower factions. Koya lost his parliamentary seat to Jai Ram Reddy, who became the new leader of the NFP. Koya's Dove faction had won only 3 seats compared to 12 won by the Flower faction.
Reddy followed a policy, which had been tried once before by Koya, that of moderation in which he sought to work with the Alliance Party to bring about change instead of resorting to the divisive policies of A.D. Patel and the later years of Koya's leadership. He enjoyed a brief period of honeymoon with the Alliance and there was again talk of a coalition. Relations between the two sides deteriorated as the Alliance used its massive majority to push through legislations seen to be anti-Indian. In 1980, after Reddy criticised, Alliance's policy of reserving Crown land for use by ethnic Fijians only, he and Ratu Kamisese Mara were no longer on speaking terms.
The NFP re-united for the 1982 elections and came close to winning the election by winning 24 seats in coalition with the Western United Front (WUF). Reddy's disagreement with the Alliance Speaker of the House led to his walkout in December 1983 and to resignation from parliament in April 1984.
Read more about this topic: National Federation Party (Fiji)
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