GUWAHATI:
Assam chief minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor on January 21 indicated that the BJP will forge alliances with the parties that it had done five years back.
Sarma was speaking on BJP’s alliance with the regional political parties in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura ahead of the elections.
The assembly elections in Meghalaya and Nagaland will be held on February 27 while the elections for Tripura will be conducted on February 16.
“You just read the newspaper five years back. Whatever we have done five years back this year also we will do the same thing,” Sarma said addressing a press conference at Janata Bhawan here.
“In Nagaland also, five years back there was an alliance between BJP and NDPP. Whatever we did last time we have repeated exactly this time,” he added.
“We are doing the same thing what was five years back. There was a pre-poll alliance with NDPP five years back in Nagaland. This year also it was repeated,” Sarma also said.
In Meghalaya, the ruling National People’s Party (NPP) has decided to fight the poll alone and announced the name of 58 candidates.
The NPP has decided not to field candidates in two seats – South Shillong and Mairang – which are represented by MLAs from the BJP and UDP, which are its coalition partners in the MDA government.
“BJP will fight alone (akela chalo) in Meghalaya. There will be no alliance with any party. In the 2018 elections also, we have fought the polls alone. That is a format,” the chief minister said.
“In Nagaland, the pre-poll alliance with NDPP (Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party) has already been incorporated and the NEDA is over. In Tripura IPFT (Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura) is with NEDA. But I can’t tell you whether our alliance with IPFT will continue or not. It will be decided by our leaders in Tripura,” Sarma said.
Earlier, Assam Pradesh BJP president and MLA Bhabesh Kalita said the party will fight elections in Meghalaya and Tripura alone also will show a good performance.
“Our party will show a good performance in Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura. We will be able to form government in the three states,” Kalita added.
Assam Legislative Assembly Deputy speaker Dr Numal Momin, who has been camping in Garo Hills districts, said, “There is the favourable undercurrent for BJP this time. We are looking for potential candidates to fight the poll.”
BJP is yet to announce the list of candidates even as all the political parties have announced the list of candidates for the up