BJP nat general secy says party’s poll committee to decide on alliance
Staff Reporter
In a new twist to ongoing political speculations over the future of BJP-NDPP alliance in the State, the saffron party has stated that it was yet to decide whether to continue with the tie-up in the next Assembly elections.
Addressing the media at Hotel Saramati here on Friday, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said the party’s election committee would take a final call on whether to continue with the alliance and seat sharing with NDPP in the upcoming Assembly elections.
He confirmed that no final decision had been taken yet whether the current arrangement with the regional party would remain during the next election. Coincidentally, Chugh’s statement also comes on the day when 21 NPF legislators merged with the ruling NDPP in Kohima.
Asked about the statement given by chief minister Neiphiu Rio that the NDPP-BJP alliance would continue, he remarked that nothing could be stated as of now, asserting that the party’s election committee would take a final call on this.
“As of now, we are now in a coalition government. And when our party’s central election committee takes a decision regarding the alliance, it would be communicated to the media,” he added.
He however claimed that the coalition government was performing commendably. He mentioned that BJP had taken a big step by forming a coalition government for the sake of social reforms, adding that wherever BJP was part of the ruling coalition, the State governments per-formed well.
Asked which party BJP would like to have an alliance with for the Assembly polls, Chugh re-plied that the decision in this regard would be taken by the party’s election committee, claiming that the party was inclined towards helping the poor.
On the strategy of BJP for the general elections, he maintained that his visit to Nagaland was to strengthen the party, adding that national leaders visited all States as part of the continuous efforts to strengthen the party. “The agenda of my visit is only to strengthen the party, not to decide strategy,” he remarked.
Speaking on the achievements under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s rein, the BJP national general secretary claimed that Modi had contributed immensely towards development of the Northeast, including Nagaland, and cited improved road and rail connectivity, infrastructure development, education, farm loans, etc, as instances.
He recalled that it was under the leadership of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that the Union Ministry of Development of North East Region (DoNER) was introduced to look into the developmental activities of the North-eastern region.
Chugh arrived here Dimapur on Friday and is expected to tour the State till May 1 during which he is scheduled to meet 12 BJP legislators and office bearers of State morchas and cells, booth level committees, shakti kendras, mandal and district committees, Intellectual Cell and Core Committee.
A press communiqué issued by BJP media cell stated that Chugh’s visit was necessitated in view of the 2023 general elections and organisational matters of the State unit.