Kohima: NDPP, the ruling party of Nagaland, has ruled out the Congress’s speculation that the party will merge with BJP after the assembly elections due next year.
Addressing a joint press conference on Friday, National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader Neiba Kronu and BJP national spokesperson Mmhonlumo Kikon said that the speculation put forward by Nagaland Congress president K Therie and AICC Nagaland in-charge Ajoy Kumar on various occasions are a “figment of imagination”.
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“The BJP is a national party and has its own principles while NDPP is a regional entity with its own principles. There is neither any agenda nor have we held any discussion over merger with BJP,” NDPP leader Kronu, who is also a minister, said.
The two parties had last month announced that NDPP will contest 40 seats and BJP 20 constituencies in next year’s assembly elections.
“The two parties entered into a pre-poll alliance before the 2018 assembly elections. Since then, both BJP and NDPP have maintained their own identities. The recent announcement of seat-sharing is an iteration of the alliance,” Nagaland BJP leader Kikon said.
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“Our relationship has grown by leaps and bounds and will continue to become stronger. Congress is making such claims only to confuse people but there is no agenda for the merger,” he added.