The BJP is firm on its seat-sharing agreement with the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party in Nagaland for next year's assembly elections, a senior leader of the saffron party has said. The BJP and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) have formulated a pre-poll seat-sharing agreement ahead of the elections to the 60-member House next year.
As per the deal, the saffron party will contest 20 seats and the NDPP 40. "We (BJP and NDPP) are in the government and ours is a successful coalition. The seat-sharing agreement has been finalized. We hope to serve the people of Nagaland again," BJP national spokesperson and Nagaland in-charge Nalin Kohli told reporters here on Wednesday.
Asked why the BJP did not consider contesting more seats, he said, "Our party has a history of continuing our alliance. While our partners may leave us, we do not have a history of leaving our partners." When reminded that the BJP had earlier come out of its alliance with the Naga People's Front (NPF) and joined hands with the NDPP ahead of the 2018 assembly polls, he said, "Election time is different. Also, there was a split in NPF."
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