Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met with his Meghalayan colleague Conrad Sangma at midnight in the midst of exit poll predictions for a hung legislature in the state.
Assam CM Sarma reportedly met with the Meghalaya CM at midnight. This occurs one day prior to the assembly elections in the three northeastern states of Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya.
National People’s Party (NPP) leader in Meghalaya Conrad Sangma made the decision to run unopposed in the assembly elections this time around. Under the name Meghalaya Democratic Alliance his party and Himanta Biswa Sarma’s BJP have been in charge of the state administration in Meghalaya.
According to reports, Conrad Sangma and Himanta Biswa Sarma had a private meeting at a hotel in Guwahati to talk about the prospect of a post-election partnership between their respective parties in Meghalaya.
Conrad Sangma left the meeting and arrived back in his hometown of Tura, Meghalaya, this morning, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.
Chief minister of Assam Himanta Biswa Sarma is regarded as the BJP’s northeast strategist due to his significant role in toppling the Congress administration in 2016 and establishing the party’s first administration in the area.
His encounter with the chief minister of Meghalaya will not have gone unnoticed and rumours of a post-election collaboration between the two parties to form the state’s administration are now rampant.
Nevertheless, as reported by PTI citing an unknown source, the meeting is currently being minimised as two pals catching up. PTI quoted the source as saying, “Sangma was in Guwahati last night and Sarma, his friend, came and visited him at the hotel. They had a one-to-one meeting.”
It should be emphasised that Himanta Biswa Sarma is also the leader of the BJP-led North East Development Alliance (NEDA) which has previously declared that should such a circumstance arise it will not form an alliance with either the Congress or the Trinamool Congress.
Aside from Meghalaya, CM Sarma had stated on Tuesday that he was optimistic there would not be a hung assembly in the two most recent election-affected states of Tripura and Nagaland.