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NDA partners join hands in the northeast

By K.V. Prasad

NEW DELHI FEB. 1. Having contested against each other in several State Assembly elections including Gujarat, prominent NDA partners such as the Samata Party, the Janata Dal (United) and the Bharatiya Janata Party have decided to join hands for the February 26 elections to Tripura and Nagaland Assembly.

Though the composition varies in these two States, these parties are part of a front that includes some regional outfits.

Though the main contest in Tripura is expected to be between the ruling Left Front and the Congress-INPT, the NDA partners have decided to challenge them through a combination called Tripura Eko Manch. In this, the Janata Dal (United) has tied up with the BJP, the Shiv Sena, and regional parties such as the Amara Bangla. Efforts are on to rope in the Trinamool Congress too.

In the 1998 elections, the Trinamool-BJP had the support of the Tripura Upajati Juba Samiti, which was traditionally a Congress ally.

This time around, shades of the TUJS are with the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) which has an understanding with the Congress in the present election.

The JD (U) today released names of its five candidates— Tajul Islam (Boxanagar), Tutam Chakraborty (Sonamura, Krishna Kumar Sinha (Kamalpur), Kamal Khan (Kailasahar) and Mohd. Abdul Rouf (Kurti). Two regional parties are expected to contest on 11 seats while the Shiv Sena gets two. The rest go to the BJP with the Trinamool likely to be adjusted in this quota in case it agrees to be part of the front.

In Nagaland, the Samata and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took a lead in organising the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland which includes the Janata Dal (United), the Nagaland People's Front and the BJP.

Although the Samata chief formally launched this Front on Saturday at Kohima and Defence Minister, George Fernandes, reports here suggest that differences persist with the JD (U) over allocation of seats.

PTI reports:

The Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Prem Kumar Dhumal, also filed his nominations today, as filing of papers was yet to gather momentum.

Mr. Dhumal filed his papers to the Bamsan Assembly constituency from where he is seeking re-election.

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