The resentment within the State BJP has been growing by the day over the seat sharing agreement (NDPP-40:BJP-20) and also with regard to tickets being denied to “winnable candidates” and other hopeful intending candidates.
As a result, BJP party workers/supporters of intending candidates staged protests outside BJP offices in Dimapur and Kohima to express their resentment.
When contacted, a senior BJP leader said that the Central BJP parliamentary board was yet to take a final call on the allotment.
On Monday, around 10 BJP aspiring candidates along with their followers and party workers staged a dharna at Naga Shopping Arcade area Dimapur against the 40:20 seat-sharing arrangement between NDPP and BJP. The intending candidates under the banner of ‘BJP Forum’ included Tarie Zeliang from 6th Tening Assembly constituency (AC), James Yaden from (21 Tuli AC), Naiba Konyak (55 Tobu), Hukiye N Tissica (34 Aghunato), Supu Jamir (Dimapur II), Hukuto Khulu (Dimapur III), Chuong (Mon Town), Dr Temsuwati (27 Mokokchung Town), Bitong Sangtam (52 Longkhim-Chare) and former MLA Konngann.
The forum urged the Central leaders to review the seat sharing agreement and reiterated their demand to increase the seat sharing deal to 30:30.
Interacting with the media after the dharna, Hukiye N Tissica said the dharna was held to express resentment against the seat sharing alliance between NDPP and BJP, and demanded either equal seat sharing between the two parties (30:30) or that BJP should contest all the 60 Assembly constituencies.
He clarified that they were not against the BJP-NDPP alliance, but were only opposing the seat-sharing ratio between the two parties. He remarked that disallowing aspiring and intending candidates party tickets was like suppressing the voice of party workers, claiming that they were only voicing the concerns of BJP karyakartas.
Tissica exuded confidence that BJP had the chance to form the next government on its own. He appealed to Assam chief minister and NEDA chairman Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, chief minister Neiphiu Rio, BJP State president Imna Along and BJP Legislature Party leader & deputy CM Y Patton to review their decision.
Meanwhile, Supu Jamir claimed that leaders were confused between reservation and seat sharing, and hence demanded that there should be proper consultations to determine which candidate was strong in which constituency. He alleged that currently tickets were being denied to BJP leaders despite their strong winning factor.
He demanded that since BJP had performed much better then NDPP in the last Assembly election in terms of winning percentage, seats should be shared equally by both the parties.
Supu warned of agitation if their demand was not adhered to. On his part, Naiba Konyak claimed that he was invited to join BJP on the pretext of getting a party ticket, but lamented that the situation had changed.
He said there was a 100% chance of him wining from his constituency and said that denying ticket would be like depriving him of his fundamental right. He condemned the 40:20 seat-sharing arrangement and demanded that either this should be 30:30 or BJP should field candidates in all 60 constituencies.
He also alleged that certain leaders were given party tickets even though they were not primary party workers or members.
Hukuto Khulu also claimed that there was no transparency in the selection and distribution of party tickets.
He requested BJP high command to make selection process of candidates transparent.
Meanwhile, when asked about their next course of action if the party’s central leaders refused to pay heed and continued with the 40:20 seat-sharing arrangement, the forum said that they were “mentally prepared for next course of action”, without disclosing much on the matter.
Some senior BJP leaders who later reached the dharna site indicated the possibility of reworking the seat sharing on 30:30 basis between BJP and NDPP
They also informed the media that Along and Patton were in Guwahati to hold talks with central BJP leaders and Assam chief minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma to seek 30:30 seat-sharing arrangement.
MOKOKCHUNG: Similarly, in Mokokchung, the district president Imolemba Jamir along with other office bearers have shot a missive to BJP national president JP Nadda demanding to know why a veteran and loyal leader and ex-minister Nuklutoshi Longkumer, who is also the in-charge of BJP Mokokchung, could be denied the party ticket.
Rather, they said Nuklutoshi’s name should have been the first on the list. The party leaders said the matter was discussed and the Mokokchung district BJP had unanimously decided to demand that Nuklutoshi be issued the BJP ticket.
BJP demands one seat for Kohima dist
KOHIMA: BJP workers of Kohima district led by its president Khrielie Üsou staged a dharna at the party’s head office in the State Capital on Monday, not only demanding ticket for former legislator Kropol Vitsu from 15 Southern Angami II Assembly Constituency (AC) but also to allot one seat to the party out of six seats under Kohima district.
Addressing media persons outside the head office premises here, Khrielie Üsou appealed to party leaders both at the national and State levels to heed to their request.
“Excluding Tseminyü, we have six seats in Kohima and out of that we should be given at least one by any means. All BJP Kohima district workers endorse the candidature of Kropol Vitsu from 15 Southern Angami II AC,” he said.
Citing the instance of how in 2018 the former party president late Visasolie Lhoungu gave up his seat and sacrificed his candidature for the sake of alliance with NDPP, Üsou insisted that such sacrifices should not go unheeded.
He further pointed out that, respecting the 40:20 seat-sharing arrangement with NDPP, Lhoungu from 11 Northern Angami II AC had pulled out of the race and gave the chance to Neiphiu Rio, who also hailed from the same constituency.
Apart from that, Üsou claimed that BJP had also given all the seven seats in Kohima district, including Tseminyü, to NDPP, thus paving the way towards the formation of the present government.
“In politics, often sacrifice is not counted, rather it is viewed as a weakness and not acceptable. Forget about a legislator, we don’t even have a candidate from the district. In spite of all that, the karyakartas of Kohima district have worked selflessly and whole-heartedly for the party in the State Capital,” he stated.
He pointed out that the position of BJP was such that if given a ticket, the party would be able to win at least from three ACs, which was an indication of the party’s popularity in Kohima. However, he clarified that since the seat-sharing arrangement was in place, it would not be proper for the mandal to seek hopeful candidates.
He maintained that unlike other districts where BJP was asking for three or four tickets, Kohima District Committee was only asking for one that it rightly deserved.
Üsou asserted: “In spite of many hardships at the grassroots, the workers have brought the party to this level. Hence, it will be very unfortunate if their humble request and appeal were ignored or if the party leaders succumbed to the pressure of the alliance partners and try to sacrifice the party’s interest by fielding candidates from some other constituency that would not be accepted at any cost by Kohima district party workers.”
Among the mandals under Kohima, he declared that the 15 Southern Angami II AC was the best performing in terms of party workers, activities and directives.
The party workers later submitted a representation to State BJP president Temjen Imna Along through vice-president Kavili Achumi.
A copy of the representation was also marked to BJP national president JP Nadda, national general secretary BI Santosh, BJP Legislature Party leader Y Patton, national spokesperson and Nagaland in-charge Nalin Kohli, Northeast in-charge Sambit Patra, Northeast co-in-charge Rituraj Sinha and secretary in-charge of Nagaland and Manipur Abhay Giri.
