BJP’s ally in the state government, the National People’s Party (NPP), has hinted at contesting the assembly polls on its own. National president of the NPP and Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma said that the party has finalised 30-plus candidates for Manipur assembly polls. The party plans to field about 40 candidates.The NPP contested nine seats in 2017 and won four seats.In Meghalaya, NPP is leading the six-party coalition government, which is supported by BJP.Another ally of the BJP-led government, the Naga People’s Front (NPF), is undecided on an alliance.NPF Manipur State unit president Awangbow Newmai claimed that NPF and BJP share a very warm relationship at present, and the two parties may prolong their alliance. “However, no pre-poll alliance has been officially sealed nor is there any restriction on forging alliances with other political parties,” he said.The party has received applications for contesting 40 seats. However, the party may field candidates in 15 seats. NPF is the ruling party in Nagaland and has substantial supporters in the hill area of Manipur. In 2017, NPF contested 15 seats.While hills account for 20 seats, Meitei Hindu dominated plains have 40 assembly seats.In 2017, Congress went out of power in Manipur after 15 years of rule. In the 2017 assembly polls, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 28 MLAs in the 60-member assembly. Later, eight Congress MLAs left the party. BJP won 21 seats and it contested all the 60 seats.BJP got support from NPP and Naga People’s Front NPF, which won four seats each. One MLA each from Trinamool Congress, Lok Jan Shakti Party and the lone independent member supported the government.
Source: Economic Times
