NPP’s support to BJP may change State poll stage`

NEW DELHI: The formation of the BJP-led government in Manipur with crucial but “conditional” support from Conrad K. Sangma will shape the poll scenario in Meghalaya where the saffron party’s state unit wants to go it alone in the 2018 Assembly elections.
With the help of NPP in Garo Hills and UDP in Khasi Hills, the BJP alliance in the North East (North East Democratic Alliance, or NEDA, headed by Himanta Biswa Sarma) will try to dislodge the Congress in the 2018 assembly polls, observers here said.
NPP supports the NDA at the Centre but it chose to fight the Manipur polls separately.
Despite opposition from the state unit, Sarma’s move to cut a deal with NPP in Manipur proved to be a win-win situation for both BJP and NPP as the victory can now be used for the party’s campaign in Meghalaya.
The state BJP unit’s go-it-alone call might not be accepted since the situation in Manipur is different from Meghalaya, sources said.
BJP lost in Punjab where it had aligned with the Akali Dal but it had won in Assam where it formed an alliance with AGP and others. On the other hand it was the Congress that paid a price for not forming a grand alliance in Assam, the observers pointed out.