Meghalaya Chief Minister and National People’s Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma expressed confidence in winning the ensuing state Assembly elections and hinted at a possible alliance with old partner BJP.
““The mode of the voters is very positive to NPP and we are confident, it will be in our favour,” he told CNN-News18 on Monday, after casting his vote in Tura.
Speaking to NDTV on Monday, he hinted at forming an alliance with a party that would “give voice to the northeast at the national level”, after exit polls predicted a hung assembly.
“If we get a fraction of the mandate, then we have to talk to parties to form government… If a party can give voice to the northeast at the national level, we are working towards it,” he told NDTV.
As per exit poll predictions, Meghalaya is headed towards a hung assembly with the ruling NPP emerging as the single-largest party.
According to Axis My India exit poll results, Sangma-led party NPP will win 18-24 seats, followed by Congress getting 6-12 seats and BJP securing 4-8 seats.
Matrize also predicted NPP to fall short of the majority mark, securing 21-26 seats, while the TMC will take 8-13 seats, BJP to win 6-11 seats, Congress to get 3-6 seats and others to retain 10-19 seats.
In 2018, Congress emerged as the single largest party but failed to secure a majority in the 60-member assembly. The BJP, which won only 2 seats, joined hands with the National People’s Party (NPP) to form the government in the state.
Commenting on TMC and Leader of Opposition Mukul Sangma, the CM had told CNN-News18, “We never take any of our opponents lightly. But TMC is already broken. Now it will take them time to reach the grass root level.”
The counting of votes will take place on March 2.
