Ajit Karn
Guwahati: Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma, whose National People’s Party (NPP) may emerge as the single largest party in today’s assembly elections, hinted that his alliance with the BJP may shortly be reinstated.
“If we receive a minority of the vote, then we must negotiate with other parties to establish a government… If a party can give the northeast a national voice, we will have achieved our goal “Mr. Sangma stated that based on the results of four exit polls, the NPP could win 20 of Meghalaya’s 60 seats. It would leave the Chief Minister’s party far short of the assembly’s majority threshold of 31 members.
The BJP, which won only two seats in the state in 2018, will win six seats, a slight increase from its 2018 total of two. Exit polls indicate that the Congress could gain six seats and the Trinamool Congress could open its account with 11 seats.
Even with an alliance with the BJP, Mr. Conrad Sangma may not receive the required number of votes if exit polls prove accurate. In such a scenario, Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress could very well become the kingmaker.
As part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “Act East” policy, the BJP forged a series of alliances in the northeast with the founding of NEDA or the North East Democratic Alliance in 2017.
While NEDA united a number of social and ethnic groups, it provided the BJP with political allies in each state, bringing all seven states under its control. While the party won a second term in Assam two years ago, it has formed alliances with local powers in order to participate in the governments of the other states.
The BJP won only two seats in Meghalaya in 2018, but managed to cobble together a coalition government with the NPP. This time, the two parties ran separately in response to allegations of corruption against Mr. Conrad Sanga’s party.
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“When I took over the NPP following my father’s passing, I made it plain that when we go to the polls, we will compete based on our ideology. We have contested on the basis of ideology, not pre-election alliances “Mr Sangma said today.
“We must recognise that elections and government formation are distinct processes. The northeast is fragmented, and our numbers do not afford us a sufficient influence at the national level “he added.
