Dimapur, Jan 14: Ahead of Assembly polls in Nagaland, seat sharing between BJP and its ally Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has yet to be sorted out.
But Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his recent visit to the state had clearly stated that BJP will contest on 20 of the state’s 60 assembly segments, leaving 40 for the regional party headed by state chief minister Neiphiu Rio.
However, some leaders of the state unit had advised to go solo, advice that the party’s central command did not pay heed to.
The Naga political issue will be the key agenda in the ensuing Nagaland assembly polls, and how NDPP and its ally BJP will go with this issue would be interesting one to see.
On the other hand, major Nagaland groups viz. Central Nagaland Tribal Council (CNTC) and Nagaland People’s Action Committee (NPAC) have demanded solution to Naga political issue before the assembly polls.
The areas under CNTC account for over 25 seats in the assembly, and they are the dominating pressure groups in the upcoming polls.
Earlier, BJP was in alliance with TR Zeliang-led Naga People’s Front (NPF), but in 2018, BJP broke alliance with NPF to join hands with the newly-formed NDDP, winning 12 seats, while NDDP won 18 seats.
Both the parties formed the government with the help of two MLAs from the National People’s Party (NPP), which is led by Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma. The two NPP MLAs in Nagaland later joined the NDDP.
