Keeping an eye on the “uncertainties” of the upcoming Lok Sabha election, the opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) in Nagaland has sought to form a “regional coalition” to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party out of governance.
The BJP is the minor partner in the People’s Democratic Alliance government headed by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which had broken away from the NPF prior to the State election in February 2018.
In a letter to former Chief Minister and NPF Legislature Party leader T.R. Zeliang on Thursday, 19 legislators of NPF proposed to form a stable coalition of regional parties indicating they favoured tying up with NDPP and showing the BJP the door.
The NPF is the single largest party with 26 MLAs in the House of 60 with an effective strength of 59 after the death of an NDPP legislator. The NDPP has 17 legislators and the BJP 12 with smaller parties and an independent making up 33 for the ruling coalition.
Speculation gained currency after the 19 MLAs went into a huddle in a resort on Thursday. Such a move had often led to a change of leadership in Nagaland in the past.
NDPP president Chingwang Konyak said his party has not received any feelers from any of the NPF leaders.
Mr. Rio denied any differences with the BJP or any pressure from the party’s central leadership. “Our government is stable and we are happy with our alliance partners,” he said.
The State’s BJP leaders sniffed a ‘futile’ NPF conspiracy to ‘destabilise’ the government.
The sudden move has also raised doubts about the NPF’s ability to keep its house in order. Mr. Zeliang could not be contacted but former minister and NPF legislator Imkong L. Imchen ruled out the possibility of his party MLAs defecting to the NDPP.
“Whatever is happening we will deal at the party level,” he said.