Resentment from G21 within NDPP and State BJP’s ambition

Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) is faced with a stiff challenge of maintaining a grip within the party as it cannot guarantee tickets to all its 42 sitting MLAs after sealing the deal with BJP to contest in 40 assembly seats.
The erstwhile 21 NPF legislators are beginning to feel that assurances from NDPP leaders of fielding them as official party candidates in 2023 for the constituencies they won as NPF in 2018 was becoming uncertain by the day.
A senior leader of the Group of 21 (G21), told Nagaland Post that they held a meeting recently at Dimapur to express their concerns with the NDPP leaders, notably its supremo and chief minister Neiphiu Rio. The G21 reportedly expressed concern that they are beginning to wonder how the NDPP high command will accommodate all 42 NDPP legislators when they have been given firm assurances of being set up as official NDPP candidate in the forthcoming assembly election.
The G21 source said that as far as the 21 of them are concerned and as per the assurances prior to merger, they are confident of being given NDPP tickets, while the NDPP leadership will have to decide on who will get the remaining 19 tickets.
The other concern of the G21 was the fate of their loyal supporters who also resigned from NPF and joined NDPP. However, the source said these erstwhile NPF unit leaders have not been given any responsible positions in the NDPP.
They have urged upon the NDPP leaders to adequately accommodate their supporters in the light of initial poll campaign that have already started.
Several NDPP party workers have made a beeline for BJP in recent months as they seem to feel that they would have to work under the very people with whom they had fought tooth and nail in 2018. This has buoyed the BJP further in believing that it’s now or never for the party and that BJP and NDPP have to go for a 30:30 seat sharing alliance.
However, the announcement made by NDPP and BJP national party leaders to continue with the 2018 seat sharing formula of 40 (NDPP) and 20 (BJP) in the expected 2023 election, has left the BJP state unit leaders peeved. The BJP state unit leaders including Y. Patton, legislature party leader and Dy. CM have been insisting on either 30:30 seat sharing formula or if not, then 25 (BJP):35 (NDPP).
However, BJP national leaders have also done their own survey and decided to continue with the 2018 formula. This was reaffirmed recently by BJP national Spokesperson and party in charge of Nagaland, Nalin Kohli, who reiterated that the 2018 seat sharing formula will continue. This has put paid to all speculations and expectation of some leaders of the BJP state unit.
Even within BJP its senior leaders don’t necessarily see eye-to-eye as in the case of state president Temjen Imna Along and legislature party leader Y. Patton over how long and how much should the party play helpmate to the NDPP in their political marriage.