BJP scores hat-trick in N-E

Meghalaya Governor Ganga Prasad invited BJP-backed Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) on Sunday evening to form the next government in the state, capping a day of high drama in the hills that also saw the Congress staking claim to stay in power. NPP leader Conrad Sangma, who is currently a Lok Sabha MP from Tura, will be sworn in as the chief minister in Shillong on Tuesday.

In a way, this marks a 3:0 for the BJP, as its ally NDPP staked claimed to form government in Nagaland, a day after the saffron party wrested Left bastion Tripura. It’s a massive setback for the Congress which emerged as the single-largest party in Meghalaya but let the state slip away — in a replay of its fate in last year’s Goa and Manipur elections.

NPP, which won 19 seats in Meghalaya’s 60-member Assembly, will form the government with a coalition stitched from a bouquet of regional parties and the BJP — taking the tally to 34. Apart from the NPP’s 19 seats, the United Democratic Party (UDP) won six seats, the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) won four, while the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) won two. BJP had bagged two seats in the …read more