Nagaland Assembly polls: BJP dumps 15-year-old alliance with NPF, ties up with newly-floated NDPP

Kohima: The BJP has decided to forge an alliance with newly-floated Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) led by former chief minister Neiphiu Rio for the 27 February Assembly poll in Nagaland. The BJP has dumped its 15-year-old alliance partner, the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF). A decision to this effect was taken in New Delhi on Friday at a meeting between BJP president Amit Shah and Rio in the presence of BJP’s Nagaland president Visasolie Lhoungu, the party’s state media cell convener, K James Vizo said on Saturday. He said the NDPP would contest 40 of the 60 seats in the state Assembly while the BJP would field candidates in the remain 20 seats. The BJP is the only party till date to announce that it will contest the election. Eleven parties including the ruling Naga People’s Front on 29 January had decided not to contest the 27 February polls, agreeing to the demand of tribal bodies and civil society groups to resolve the protracted Naga political problem first. Later, the BJP had announced it would contest the polls. The state BJP sources said the party’s grassroots workers were against the party forging any pre-poll alliance with anyone.