The BJP and NPP are likely to see another bout of intense electoral clash in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Meghalaya.
According to reports, the BJP is planning to announce its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections within this month.
The NPP on the other hand has announced the name of cabinet minister Ampareen Lyngdoh and sitting MP Agatha Sangma as the Lok Sabha poll candidates from Shillong and Tura seats respectively.
In the 2023 Assembly elections, both NPP and BJP castigated each other during the poll campaign. The BJP was hoping big in the Garo Hills region with internal surveys projecting the party to win at least ten seats in the region.
Riding high on the expectation, the BJP top brass launched a sharp attack against NPP president and chief minister Conrad Sangma.
Even Union Home Minister Amit Shah in his election campaigns called the Meghalaya chief minister the most corrupt in the entire country.
Shah alleged that the money sent by the Centre for the welfare of the people of Meghalaya could not reach the beneficiaries as there was large-scale corruption in the State under Sangma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi also during his poll campaign in Meghalaya lashed out at the corruption under the NPP-led government.
However, the election results proved disappointing for the BJP as it could retain only the two seats it had in the 60-member Assembly.
The BJP’s two candidates, Sanbor Shullai and A. L. Hek, won this time in the Meghalaya election. Shullai was a minister in the previous Meghalaya coalition government, and Hek has been made a minister by the BJP this time.
After the poll results were announced, the BJP immediately extended its support to the NPP to form the MDA-2 government.
BJP legislator Alexander L. Hek has been made a minister in the government while another saffron party MLA Sanbor Shullai was given a chairman post.