Ties with BJP resulted in NPP’s losses in Lok Sabha elections: Meghalaya CM

SHILLONG: Meghalaya chief minister and national president of the National People’s Party (NPP), Conrad Sangma, has ruled out the possibility of any pre-poll alliance between his party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in future elections.

Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma made this statement while saying that the NPP has identified the reasons behind its dismal performance in the recently held Lok Sabha elections.

While avoiding a direct reference to any specific party, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma, in an interview with ThePrint, suggested that NPP’s ‘alignment’ with certain political parties contributed to its drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections.

“…Somewhere along the line people have mentioned our alignment with different political parties as an issue,” said Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma.

He added: “In some areas we have looked at certain aspects of anti-incumbency. So, multiple factors have been identified.”

The Meghalaya chief minister said that the NPP is “now in the process of finding ways to amend those and find a way forward”.

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Sangma further mentioned that moving forward, the NPP will contest every election independently and consider forming post-poll coalitions as needed.

“We have always maintained our stand that we would like to contest our elections on our own ideologies. Therefore it is highly unlikely that there will be any kind of situation where there will be a tie-up,” said Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma.

He further said: “But we have been very clear that we work in a coalition. As and when elections are done, based on the situation of governance, we decide on what to do.”

It may be mentioned her that the BJP is part of the NPP-led ruling alliance in Meghalaya.

The saffron party had also supported both the candidates that the NPP fielded in the Lok Sabha elections for the Shillong and Tura constituencies.

The BJP dis not field its own candidates in Meghalaya for Lok Sabha elections.

However, the Congress won the Tura seat, while the newly formed Voice of the People Party (VPP) won the Shillong seat.