GUWAHATI: The National People’s Party (NPP) on Wednesday released its first list of 29 candidates for upcoming Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh which will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha polls.
The 29 candidates include two Ministers and six MLAs of the state’s BJP government. They had deserted the BJP over the past few days disgruntled being denied tickets by the party to contest the polls.
The NPP received a shot in the arms on Wednesday when around 20 BJP leaders, including the eight lawmakers, had defected to it.
According to NPP state spokesman Mutchu Mithi, the party is looking to field at least 40 candidates in the polls. The state Assembly has 60 members.
“After the BJP, probably we are fighting the maximum number of seats. Not the Congress, we have become the alternative,” Mithi claimed, adding, “When we are fighting in so many seats, it is obvious that we have a bigger chance of forming the government on our own or otherwise”.
He said the people would embrace the NPP and this was evident from “so many people joining our party”.
The NPP, which is led by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, is very new in Arunachal. The party has already made inroads into several states of the Northeast. It heads Meghalaya’s ruling coalition and is a constituent in the coalition governments of Nagaland and Manipur.