Kohima, Jan 28: The BJP has said that the party's Central leadership has arrived at a consensus with like-minded regional parties in Nagaland to fight the ruling Congress in the state unitedly in the February 26 assembly elections even as the state unit of the party was not so keen on pre-poll alliance and seat adjustment with others.

Emphasising the need for putting up a united front to throw the Congress out of power, BJP national vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal claimed that the people in the state were fed up with the ten-year "misrule" of the S C Jamir government and had been earnestly looking for an alternative in Nagaland.
Khandelwal was in Dimapur yesterday to attend the party's meeting sans the state unit president Dr Rhetso, who recently resigned opposing the Central leaders' decision favouring pre-poll alliance with Nagaland People's Front (NPF), Janata Dal (United) and others.

Playing down the issue of Rhetso's resignation, Khandelwal told newsmen after the meeting that the Opposition received a moral boost after the resignation of Congress ministers and MLAs expressing disillusionment with the activities of their party.

Senior Congress member and MLA from Wokha district T N Ngulie who resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP yesterday said, "I am now free from the bondage of Congress. BJP is the only party where one can express his views freely."

Bureau Report