By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, March 22: In a surprising political development weeks ahead of the all-important Lok Sabha polls, the BJP on Friday decided to withdraw from the electoral race in Meghalaya in order to support its NDA and MDA ally, National People’s Party (NPP).
At the same, the saffron party will support the Naga People’s Front (NPF) in one of the two parliamentary seats in Manipur and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), the ruling party in Nagaland, in the lone Lok Sabha seat in that state.
The decision has come from none other than the Prime Minister’s office, party insiders said.
It was unclear whether the NPP’s decision to pull out of the Lok Sabha poll race in Arunachal Pradesh prompted the BJP to reciprocate similarly in Meghalaya.
BJP sources told The Shillong Times that a tussle for the party ticket in Shillong between sitting MLA and senior leader AL Hek and advocate Fenela L Nonglait, with none willing to back out, might have forced the party leadership to announce its support for the NPP. The sources said that a similar tussle has been going on in Tura between ticket aspirants Bernard N Marak and Riya Sangma.
Attempts to contact the BJP state leaders failed as they had either switched off their phones or did not answer the calls.
The BJP’s decision to back out in favour of the NPP will have an impact on the outcome of the Lok Sabha poll results in both the seats in the state. Party insiders, however, are not convinced that the entirety of the BJP supporters will vote for the NPP.
Earlier, announcing the party’s decision on X (formerly Twitter), BJP in-charge for the Northeastern region, Sambit Patra said, “As per the instructions of BJP president JP Nadda ji, I am pleased to inform that BJP will extend its support to Lok Sabha candidates of NPP in both the seats of Meghalaya (Shillong and Tura), to NPF in the Outer Manipur constituency and to NDPP in Nagaland in the ensuing parliamentary elections 2024.”
“Under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji, BJP will cross 370 and NDA will cross 400 seats. NDA will be victorious in all the Lok Sabha seats of North-East under the leadership of respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji,” Patra added.
BJP national general secretary in-charge of Meghalaya, M Chuba Ao told The Shillong Times that the party’s central leadership arrived at a decision to support the NPP candidates in both Shillong and Tura Parliamentary seats after doing a proper analysis.
According to him, the party has done well in Shillong Parliamentary when they had contested in 2014 and 2019.
Ao said that the party candidate (Shibun Lyngdoh) secured around 95,959 votes in the 2014 polls with a total vote share of 15.76% while in the 2019 elections, the party candidate (Sanbor Shullai) secured 75,786 votes with a total vote share of 9.74%.
Ao also said that the party had contested in the Tura Parliamentary seat in 2019 where the party candidate (Rikman G Momin) managed to secure only 31,707 votes (vote share of 5.45%).
He candidly admitted that the party had no chance of winning in either of the seats. “We don’t expect that our vote share will increase. Instead our candidates will have a tough time if we decide to contest these two seats,” he said.
He said the party will leave it to the NPP to decide how to involve the BJP in its election campaigns in Shillong and Tura.
The BJP national general secretary admitted that the party workers and leaders will not be happy with the decision.
BJP state president Rikman G Momin said they will abide by the decision of the central leaders.
“Prime Minster, Narendra Modi respects the partners of the NDA. We will go all out to campaign for the NPP candidates as per the wish of our central leaders,” Momin said.
Informing that he will hold a meeting with the party leaders on Saturday, Momin said that he will address the media in details on the decision taken by the central leadership.
Meanwhile, as predicted by Ao, the BJP workers have begun expressing resentment over the central leadership’s decision to support the NPP.
Party workers alleged that the state president (Momin) failed to take a decisive call to end the infighting for the ticket since he could not convince the weaker candidates to step down.
“Party leaders should have primarily listened to the party voice. However it seems the party was interested in giving tickets to those who have more influence in Delhi rather than having more support in the state,” some BJP workers told The Shillong Times.
They alleged that the failure of the state president to send one name per seat proved to be the final nail in the BJP’s coffin.
“Everyone expected sweeping reforms with Momin’s name being announced as the new state president, but rather a downward slide is evident in Garo Hills after his promotion of a candidate who had contested the MLA election from outside Garo Hills and is currently an applicant for the Tura seat,” party leaders stated on condition of anonymity.