The Naga People’s Front and the National People’s Party have written to Amit Shah seeking the BJP’s backing to form the next government and have issued a veiled threat to pull out of Manipur if denied support.
Nagaland governor with BJP and NDPP leaders at Raj Bhavan in Kohima. Credit: Twitter
New Delhi: A day after the National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) met Nagaland governor P.B. Acharya to stake a claim to form the next government in the state with support from the Janata Dal (United) and its pre-poll partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the outgoing chief minister T.R. Zeliang has refused to step down, demanding that the Naga People’s Front (NPF) be called first to form the next government as it is the single largest party with 27 seats.
Both NPF and its pre-poll ally, the National People’s Party (NPP) – part of the BJP’s regional alignment, the North-East Democratic Alliance – have also written to BJP president Amit Shah seeking the support of his party to form the next government.
While Rio was asked by the governor to get signatures of all the 32 MLAs he claims the support of in order to cross the simple majority mark of 31 in the 60-member assembly, this new development has made the situation somewhat confrontational not just with the NPP – with which it has entered into a coalition arrangement in Meghalaya on March 4 – but also with its oldest ally in Nagaland, the NPF.
BJP, which has been the junior partner in the NPF-run state government since 2003, has not formally walked out of the alliance even though it entered into a seat sharing arrangement with NDPP for the February 27 assembly elections. While BJP contested 20 seats, the rest of the 40 candidates were fielded by NDPP. Out of the 20, BJP, for the first time in the state, won 12 seats, making it a strong contender to be a part of the government, unlike in 2013 when it bagged just one seat.
Even with just one seat – in 2008 it had seven – NPF made it a part of its government. In June 2014, all the three MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party defected to the BJP, taking its number to four.
Though NFP is the single largest party, even with the support of NPP, which has two seats, it is two short of the 31 mark. While NDPP has 18 seats, together with JD(U)’s one, BJP’s 12 seats and support from the lone independent candidate, and the JD(U), the number comes to 32. Though JD(U) had a pre-poll alliance with the NPF, it has chosen to go with the NDPP-BJP combine.
In the letter jointly written to the BJP president by NPF president Awangbow Newmai and Manipur NPP president Thangminlein Kipgen on March 4, the regional parties not only sought the support of the BJP to form a government in Nagaland but also reminded him of the coalition arrangement among the three parties in Manipur.
“We strongly feel that NPF, BJP and NPP alliance should form the government in Nagaland as already NPP and NPF are alliance partner of the BJP-led government in Manipur. Such a coalition government is likely to be more stable and lead to a more cordial and congenial political atmosphere in the region. Therefore, it is our humble appeal to your good-self to look into the matter and intervene immediately in the interest of Nagaland in particular and the whole of Northeast at large,” the letter said.
Though the letter doesn’t mention it, top sources in both the NPF and the NPP told The Wire from Kohima that both the parties “would likely pull out of the BJP-led coalition in Manipur if it goes with NDPP. Even though Rio met the governor, as of now, the hung assembly situation continues.”
With four seats each, these parties helped BJP form a coalition government in Manipur last year. Besides the eight seats of the NPF and NPP, and one from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the BJP with 21 seats crossed the simple majority mark of 31.
With more MLAs defecting to the BJP in subsequent times, the party’s number has now gone up to 30. Even if both NPF and NPP pull out of the Manipur government, it would have the simple majority with help from the lone seat of the NDA partner LJP.
Before the voting was to take place in Nagaland, NPF had issued a direct threat to the BJP that it would withdraw support to that government after the Nagaland elections.
On March 4, speaking to local reporters in Kohima, Zeliang said he would travel to New Delhi to “personally meet” the BJP president to advise the state party unit to go with NPF.
In the run-up to the elections, Ram Madhav, the BJP national general secretary in charge of the Northeast, told reporters in New Delhi that BJP would form an alliance with one of the two regional parties in Nagaland keeping the possibility of signing the Naga Accord in mind. Since August 2015, talks have been on between the Narendra Modi government and the NSCN (Isak-Muivah) besides six powerful Naga political groups to turn the confidential framework agreement into an Accord.
Interestingly, a day after the election results were out, Rio, seemingly keeping the possibility of being a part of the next government in mind, claimed to local reporters that “The Accord would be signed by August 2018”.
Top sources from state BJP, however, reiterated to The Wire that the party would not step back from its earlier decision and “would back NDPP”. On being asked about the threat of NPF and the NPP pulling out of the Manipur government, the sources said, “The party is hoping that neither NPF nor NPP would go to the extent of doing so.”
The BJP state unit is presently meeting in Kohima. Sources said it would soon be clear how many ministerial berths the party would have in the new dispensation.