GUWAHATI
Scores of workers vandalised the BJP’s office in Manipur’s Senapati district on Saturday after the party decided not to contest from the Outer Manipur Lok Sabha constituency but support the candidate of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) instead.
The protesters shouted slogans against the party leadership and said the decision denied one of its dedicated grassroots workers an opportunity to represent the constituency in Parliament.
The BJP on Friday said it would support the NPF in Outer Manipur, the National People’s Party (NPP) in the Shillong and Tura seats in Meghalaya, and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in the lone seat in Nagaland.
The NPP and the NDPP are allies of the BJP. The BJP and NPF are partners in Manipur but not in Nagaland.
Sangma appreciates BJP
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, who heads the NPP, said the BJP’s decision not to contest the Lok Sabha election would brighten the position of the NDA in the State.
Although the Meghalaya unit of the BJP was unhappy with the central leadership’s move, it is seen as a reciprocation of the NPP’s decision a few days ago not to contest the two Lok Sabha seats in Arunachal Pradesh and support the BJP candidates instead.
The BJP has renominated its sitting MPs – Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in the Arunachal West seat and Tapir Gao in the Arunachal East seat.
The BJP, contesting 11 of Assam’s 14 seats, left two constituencies to its ally Asom Gana Parishad and one to the United People’s Party Liberal.
The BJP is contesting the two Lok Sabha seats in Tripura that it rules.
