New Delhi: Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) president Conrad K Sangma on Saturday said his party will contest the upcoming Assembly elections alone in the Northeastern state.
Assembly elections to 60 seats in Meghalaya are slated to be held early next year.
“We have been very clear in this regard. We will not be going for pre-poll alliance with any political parties, including the ones with whom we are in the coalition (MDA government) right now in Meghalaya,” Sangma, who convened the party’s national executive meeting at the Constitution Club, told reporters after being asked about whether NPP will go for an alliance with any parties in the 2023 Assembly elections in Meghalaya.
He further said, “We are part of the BJP-led NDA. But, contesting an election is about the identity and ideology of the party which we always maintain.”
On Trinamool Congress’ entry into the Northeastern state, the CM said, “There was a political space in Opposition. TMC has come in and captured that space. Though they have captured some space, they are now creating another space within themselves.”
Asked about allegations on BJP that it is a threat to regional parties, the NPP chief said, “If you look at what had happened in Maharashtra. It was opposite (infighting within the Shiv Sena). In Meghalaya, we did not face any such problem. We had some issues in Manipur, we stood up and took up the matters with the senior leaders of the BJP. So, there are always complications in coalition.”
Apprising about today’s meeting, Sangma said detailed discussions were held on the upcoming elections in different states, especially Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. It was decided to form election committees in these three election bound states.
Among others, important matters related to the organisational matters of the party were discussed, he added.
The NPP chief also said it was also decided to further increase the footprint of the party in different states across the country.
On the Assam-Meghalaya inter-state boundary issue, the CM said, “We are moving in a positive direction. Both the state governments and Central government are positively working on it. We have already signed an agreement in the first phase. In the second phase also we are hopeful that we will find a solution.”
On March 29, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and Sangma had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to resolve a decades-old boundary dispute between the two states in the first phase.
Both the states had agreed to resolve six out of the 12 areas spread across around 39 sqkm.
