SHILLONG:
The National People’s Party (NPP) could be in for a setback if reports on social media suggesting that the party’s candidate and former legislator from Ranikor, Martin M Danggo, may join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were to turn out to be true.
As per these reports, Danggo is expected to join the BJP here on Monday.
When contacted, state unit president of the BJP, Ernest Mawrie, however, said he was not aware of any such development.
“I am yet to get any confirmation of this development,” Mawrie said when contacted over phone.
The state BJP chief admitted though that the party had earlier communicated with him to try and convince him to join the saffron party.
He said that the party had tried to convince him until very recently. “We asked him to join the BJP even after the NPP had officially announced his candidature from Ranikor,” he said, adding that he does not know about the latest development.
According to Mawrie, when in the past the party approached him like in the case of many others, Danggo refused to make any commitment.
There were reports that Danggo on the night of January 28 met Assam Chief Minister and North East Democratic Alliance chairman, Himanta Biswa Sarma at Guwahati in the presence of Meghalaya BJP legislator Alexander Laloo Hek.
The state election committee of the BJP, which met on Friday, has sent the list of candidates for the upcoming assembly elections to the central leaders in Delhi and the list is expected to be announced by February 2.
It may be mentioned that Danggo, who won the 2018 assembly polls on a Congress ticket, quit the assembly and contested a subsequent by-poll on NPP ticket.
He quit the grand old party and contested on an NPP ticket after the government decided to upgrade Ranikor into a civil subdivision.
He, however, lost the by-poll to United Democratic Party’s Pius Marwein.
Soon after, he quit from the NPP but re-joined the party in February last year.
On January 12, the NPP announced the names of 58 candidates, including that of Danggo, for the upcoming election.
The state goes to polls on February 27.
The BJP has been able to rope in several sitting legislators into its fold, including Himalaya Shangpliang (Mawsynram) of the Trinamool Congress, Samuel Sangma, independent MLA from Baghmara, and NPP’s Ferlin CA Sangma from Selsella and Benedic R Marak from Raksamgre.