AJP Gen Secretary: BJP claims regional parties victory as its own

GUWAHATI: The BJP’s claim that it has formed governments in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura is not entirely true as its presence in the first two states is negligible, the Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP), A regional party said on Friday.
AJP general secretary Jagadish Bhuyan said the BJP contested the elections in alliance with the regional party NDPP in Nagaland and Meghalaya, where the party contested on its own bill, winning only two seats.
“We can safely say that the real political power still lies with the regional parties in Meghalaya and Nagaland,” he told PTI.

In Tripura, the third state where assembly elections were held last month, the BJP’s tally dropped from 36 to 32 and its allies down to eight, Bhuyan said.

The two parties jointly contested the 2018 assembly elections and overthrew the Left Front.
On the other hand, Tipra Motha, who contested the state elections for the first time, bagged 13 seats and “this is a measure of her popularity and success in the state”, the AJP leader pointed out.

In Nagaland, the BJP contested 20 seats but won only 12 and it was the regional political party NDPP, which managed to win 25 of the 40 seats to give the coalition a majority figure.
“So, it is actually the NDPP that has any real influence in the state and not the BJP,” he added.

Bhuyan said that in Meghalaya, the BJP broke its alliance with the ruling NPP just before the elections and decided to fight alone, leveling serious corruption charges against the Conrad Sangma-led government, according to latest reports. Only managed to get two seats.
“So, it is actually the NDPP that has any real influence in the state and not the BJP,” he added.

Bhuyan said that in Meghalaya, the BJP broke its alliance with the ruling NPP just before the elections and decided to fight alone, leveling serious corruption charges against the Conrad Sangma-led government, according to latest reports. Only managed to get two seats.
“Thus, we can conclude that contrary to the BJP’s claim of popularity and power in the Northeast, the real power here has always rested with the regional political parties,” the AJP leader said.

AJP has congratulated NDDP and NPP for their victory in Nagaland and Meghalaya respectively.
“We also congratulate Pradyut Kishore Debbarma for his outstanding performance as Tipra Motha in his fight for indigenous people’s rights,” added Bhuyan.