BJP dumps 15-yr-old partner; ties up with Riu in Nagaland

The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to forge an alliance with newly floated Nationalist Democratic People’s Party led by former chief minister Neiphiu Rio for the February 27 assembly polls in Nagaland.

The BJP has dumped its 15-year-old alliance partner, the ruling Naga People’s Front.

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 remaining 20 seats.

The BJP on Saturday released the names of 20 candidates.

It is the only party till date to announce that it will contest the election.

Eleven parties including the ruling Naga People’s Front on January 29 had decided not to contest the February 27 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 here said the party’s grassroots workers were against the party forging any pre-poll alliance with anyone.