Contending that the Bharatiya Janata Party does not pay heed to its ideas and suggestions, the Naga People’s Front, a partner in the BJP-led alliance in the State, has convened a meeting of its leaders on Saturday to decide if it would continue to stay in the coalition or withdraw support.
BJP denies allegations
Denying the allegation, the BJP said that it has extended all possible cooperation to its partners to ensure smooth functioning of the government.
The NPF has four MLAs in the 60-member Assembly. Even if the party pulls out, it wouldn’t impact the coalition, which currently has 29 legislators.
Eight of the 28 Congress MLAs, who had won the 2017 polls, defected to the BJP last year, taking its tally from 21 to 29 in the Assembly. The other parties in the ruling coalition are NPP (4), LJP (1), Independent (1) and AITC (1).
NPF State unit chief Awangbou Newmai claimed that the BJP “looks down” on its alliance partners.
“The BJP has never respected the spirit of alliance since the formation of government in 2017. There have been instances when their leaders have refused to consider our members as alliance partners,” he said without elaborating.
‘Did not keep promises’
Mr. Newmai also said that the BJP did not live up to the promises it had made to its coalition partners. “The NPF has always considered the BJP as its big brother, but that did not stop the party from bluffing to us. We haven’t got our due respect,” he claimed.
Rebutting Mr. Newmai’s assertions, BJP spokesperson Ch. Bijoy said that the NPF had maintained that it did not want any ministerial berth while joining the alliance, but now it had several demands.
Of the four NPF MLAs in the Assembly, Loshii Dikho, who won from the Mao Assembly seat, is a Cabinet Minister.
“The allegations made by the NPF are baseless and unfounded. All possible cooperation has been extended to our coalition partners for smooth functioning of the government,” he added.
