BJP to select election candidates for 3 NE states tomorrow

New Delhi:

Sources have said that the BJP will decide on candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in the three states with its Central Election Committee meeting on Friday. The meeting to be held at the party headquarters in Delhi will be attended by all prominent leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP President JP Nadda, Union Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The meeting will finalize candidates for Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland, which go to polls next month. Polling will be held in Tripura on February 16, Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 27.

BJP is in power in all the three states. While it has single-handedly formed government in Tripura, it has forged alliances with regional powers in the other two states.

Sources said the party is likely to drop several sitting MLAs in all the three states.

In Tripura, BJP changed its chief minister last year. Sources indicated that the change was made in the run-up to the elections to avoid anti-incumbency and control internal bickering within the state unit of the party.

Manik Saha, who replaced Biplab Deb, has started a door-to-door campaign flagging development in the state over the past five years.

Working towards consolidating its gains, the party is also organizing a Rath Yatra in Tripura which began earlier this month. Union minister and party’s chief strategist Amit Shah also announced at a rally that the Ram temple would be ready by next January – an announcement seen as a trailer for his strategy for the 2024 general election.

Mr Shah has predicted that the BJP will return to power in the state with a two-thirds majority. The Congress is “finished in the country” and the Communists are “finished in the world”, Mr Shah has said.

What may be strange to the BJP’s pitch is that “closed door” talks took place between its dissident ally Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura or IPFT and TIPRA, led by former royal and ex-Congress leader Pradyot Manikya Debbarman.

The political equations for the BJP could become even more difficult with the merger of the two parties ahead of the elections to the 60-member assembly. IPFT and TIPRA together have the potential to win 20 tribal reserved seats in the state and play a decisive role in another five to seven seats.

In Meghalaya, the BJP won only two seats in 2018 and is part of the Conrad Sangma government. This time she aims to win more seats and is contesting alone.

In Nagaland, the BJP won 12 seats in 2018 and was a partner in the NDPP-led government of Neiphiu Rio. This time the party will again contest the elections in alliance with the NDPP. Out of 60 seats in the state, NDPP will contest on 40 and BJP on 20 seats.