BJP unhappy with NPP for fielding candidates in Manipur
SHILLONG: The BJP may go it alone in the Meghalaya Assembly polls scheduled to be held in early part of 2018 considering the emerging stand of several non-Congress political parties in the State.
Speaking to The Shillong Times over phone on Saturday, BJP national spokesperson and in-charge, Meghalaya, Nalin Kohli, pointed out that the stand of NPP which is contesting the Manipur polls alone gives room for the BJP to explore options to go it alone in Meghalaya in 2018.
Kohli, who was in Tura as part of the state executive Committee of BJP, said there was no alliance talks from any quarter.
He also pointed out that the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) formed by non-Congress political parties soon after the victory of BJP-led alliance in Assam was development-oriented and not a political alliance.
According to Kohli, since NPP would like to field candidates in all the 24 constituencies in Garo Hills, the BJP will also prepare to strengthen the party looking at 2018 polls.
He, however, said that it is too early to discuss the understanding with likeminded parties.
“Tomorrow if Mukul Sangma government collapses, then we will all come together, but the matters related to 2018 polls are different altogether,” Kohli said.
Asked about any understanding with the NPP led by Tura MP Conrad Sangma which has significant presence in Garo Hills, Kohli said that though NPP is part of the NDA coalition, it is contesting Manipur polls separately.
However, BJP is currently supporting the NPP-led coalition in GHADC.
Confusion prevails over possible alliance
An agency report said that earlier on Saturday in Tura, the BJP national general secretary in-charge Northeast, Ram Madhav, said that his party is yet to decide on whether to have a pre-poll alliance in next year’s Assembly election in Meghalaya.
“When elections come we will decide (about alliances). When we decide, we will go by our party workers opinion. We will seek your views,” Madhav told reporters here after inaugurating the party’s regional office at Danakgre in Tura.
He also urged his party workers not to stop working now, and strengthen the party with a singular objective that Meghalaya should see a government that is ready to travel with PM Narendra Modi shoulder to shoulder.
Urging party workers to “work hard” for the remaining months in the run up to the Assembly elections, he said, “BJP is not only the “present” of India, but also the country’s future, therefore, our workers are working hard in all the constituencies to prepare the minds of the people.”
On electoral issues, he said this varied from state to state, and such issues are dealt with at the time of elections.
(Contd on P-10)
Parties may go…
(Contd from P-1) “Right now, the effort will be to strengthen the party at the grassroots in all the constituencies in the state,” he added.
Madhav also paid tribute to former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma who had represented the Tura parliamentary constituency for several terms.
“Tura has given a great leader like PA Sangma to Indian politics. To make Meghalaya an important state in the national map, we have to bring a party with such national credentials, that is BJP. That will be the real tribute to late Sangma. Let us all work together,” he said.