GUWAHATI: Till two days ago, Nagaland remained unaffected when many MLAs in Meghalaya and Tripura resigned from the Assembly and their parties to contest the Assembly elections in February on the tickets of other political parties.
But on Saturday, Imkong L Imchen, a four-time sitting MLA, resigned from the Assembly as well as his party Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) to contest the polls from the BJP. He is the first to do so in Nagaland this election. He represented the Koridang constituency in the Mokokchung district and is a former minister.
Shifting political allegiance by the MLAs ahead of elections is, otherwise, common in the Northeast.
“I have resigned from the NDPP and joined the BJP. I am impressed with the policies and programmes of the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji. I want to work under him as a humble party worker,” Imchen told this newspaper over the phone from Nagaland.
The state has 60 Assembly seats. The NDPP and the BJP are allies. As per an understanding they had in the 2018 elections, the NDPP had contested 40 seats and the BJP 20. Reports suggest they will stick to this formula even this election.
It has not been officially announced yet which party will contest which seats but Imchen said he was hoping to contest as a BJP candidate from his pet Koridang seat.
“I was told Koridang will be given to the BJP (as per the seat-sharing arrangement). I haven’t been promised a ticket so far by the BJP,” the veteran politician said.
The Naga People’s Front (NPF) had emerged as the single largest party in the 2018 elections by winning 26 seats but a coalition, led by BJP and NDPP, formed the government.
Imchen had won that election as an NPF candidate. But in April last year, 21 of the NPF legislators, including him, had defected to the NDPP. The state currently does not have a single MLA from the opposition parties.
Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio of the NDPP heads an “Opposition-less” government. All MLAs belong to ruling parties – BJP, NDPP and NPF. The NPF was accommodated in the government last year.
The Assembly elections in the state will be held on February 27.