In a major twist to the political grouping scene in Nagaland, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reportedly signed a seat-sharing agreement with the newly floated Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) on Friday for the forthcoming state assembly elections due Feb. 27.
Informed sources from the Nagaland BJP unit told Eastern Mirror that the agreement was made in Delhi between the party’s national general secretary and in-charge of north east states, Ram Madhav, and member of the Lok Sabha Neiphiu Rio, who recently shifted allegiance from the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) to the newly registered NDPP. It is said that the two parties have inked the alliance on the basis of a 20:40 seat sharing agreement.
According to the source, the alliance “is one of a kind.”
The Union minister of state for Home Kiren Rijiju, who is also the BJP’s election in-charge of Nagaland, is expected to make an official announcement on Feb. 3 in Guwahati. Incidentally, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be in Guwahati on the same day to inaugurate the neighbouring state’s Global Investors’ Summit 2018.
Meanwhile, NDPP sources informed that MP Rio will be arriving in Nagaland on Feb. 3.