BJP to go alone in Manipur: Himanta Biswa Sarma

The BJP will contest the Assembly elections in Manipur early next year on its own because it does not have any ally in the state, senior Assam BJP leader Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also convener of the party’s North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), said here Sunday.

“We do not have any significant NEDA partner in that state,” Sarma, who was in Imphal three days ago with BJP national president Amit Shah, said, while emphasising that the BJP would form the next government in the state.

It was during Shah’s Imphal visit last week that veteran Congress leader and MLA since 1980 Yumkham Irabot Singh joined the BJP, thus striking a major blow to the ruling party there.

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While the BJP had not won any seat in the Manipur Assembly elections of 2012, it won two constituencies in the November 2015 by-elections.

The Congress currently holds 48 MLAs in the 60-member Assembly, with the TMC and Naga People’s Front second biggest at four MLAs each.