SHILLONG, Jan 22: Meghalaya BJP appears to be caught in a political wonderland. Being a coalition partner, it has been taking pot shots at the premier ally NPP like they were sworn enemies.
As the state braces for election on February 27, a question that arises is that will BJP eventually shun NPP should there be a question of forging new alliance after March 2.
Predictably, it’s a Hobson’s choice for both BJP and NPP but hedging the issue is a safer bet for now.
BJP state president Ernest Mawrie on Sunday while talking to The Shillong Times ducked a straight reply. He said that the party will need to properly analyse with whom it will align after the upcoming polls.
Remaining non-committal, he said, “I will not say that we are going to work or not with the NPP. It will totally depend on the post election scenario. At the moment, we are going on our own since we do not have any pre-poll alliance with any party,”
Reacting to the estranged relationship between the BJP and NPP in Meghalaya, he said the party central leadership along with the state leadership will devise the future strategy after seeing the outcome of the polls.
He however said that the party at the moment is totally focused to ensure that it wins maximum seats in the upcoming polls.
“We are going all out to improve our performance as compared to the 2018 polls. We are getting good reports from many of the constituencies,” the BJP state president said.
Mawrie however admitted that BJP was unhappy with the performance of the NPP-led coalition to which they are clinging despite a strained relationship.
According to him, from time to time BJP has been vocal about the failures of the government on several fronts.
Earlier, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma had made a guarded statement on the issue. He had stated that the two parties are working together as integral partners of the coalition.
“But as election approaches each political party has their own story to tell and each one will try to take a political mileage out of the situation,” Sangma had said.
According to him, “the BJP also is competing with us in a lot of the seats like other political parties and therefore it’s natural for BJP to raise questions”. “I think it’s nothing to be surprised about”.
“We have always maintained that we fight our elections on our own. We never have a pre-poll alliance and this has always been our principle,” Sangma who is also the NPP president had said.
“I am not saying that we will or we will not work with the BJP. Let us wait for the election results,” the CM had stated.
