GUWAHATI: In the wake of BJP's instability in Manipur after being reduced to minority post support withdrawal from NPP, national president and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma and Assam Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma rushed to Imphal on Sunday to hold an emergency meeting.
Sangma met with all four party MLAs, who were serving as Cabinet Ministers including one who served as a Deputy Chief Minister until they had resigned three days ago, to know their position. Despite their support to opposition Congress, the BJP had won the lone Rajya Sabha seat.
An NPP insider told this newspaper that during the meeting, differences cropped up among the MLAs. Some favoured going back to the BJP while others wanted to sail alongside the Congress.
“The NPP has received a similar offer from the Congress – one Deputy Chief Minister and three Cabinet Ministers. Every party wants to be in power but the problem is most NPP leaders are averse to working with the incumbent CM again…We don’t have any problem with the BJP. If the NPP lends its support to the BJP-led government with N Biren Singh at the helms of affairs, they feel it will be loss of face for the party because it was due to his autocratic style of functioning that the NPP had pulled out of the government. They are ready to work with the BJP again but they want a change of guard,” the NPP insider said.
However, replacing the incumbent CM could not just be humiliating for the BJP but it could also trigger a fresh problem for the party.
NPP state president Thangminlien Kipgen on Sunday issued a statement listing out reasons why the party had withdrawn its support. He said despite it being a coalition government, there was no steering committee or a common minimum programme or the name of the coalition government.
“Just after the formation of the BJP-led government in 2017, the BJP forgot the existence of the NPP and the role it played during the formation of the government,” Kipgen said.
He said the BJP never consulted the NPP at the time of taking any major decision for the state. “Even they failed to serve an invitation to us at any national or state function,” he said, adding the BJP had not also consulted the NPP while selecting candidates during elections.
The government was reduced to a minority as three BJP MLAs resigned from the party and the Assembly and six others – four from NPP, one from All India Trinamool Congress and an independent MLA – withdrew their support to the government.
Currently, incumbent CM Singh enjoys the support of 23 MLAs – 18 from BJP, four from Naga People’s Front and one from Lok Janshakti Party. Opposition Congress has 20 MLAs. The four NPP MLAs and the independent MLA are now with the grand old party.
The Congress on Sunday reiterated its demand for the dismissal of the government.
“How long will the minority government of BJP with 23 MLAs stay in power? How long will it take for the Governor to dismiss the government? How long will it take for a special assembly session to be convened? How can 23 MLAs in 52-member Assembly be in power?” Congress spokesman Ningombam Bupenda Meitei tweeted.