‘Will continue….’: Meghalaya CM thanks BJP for letter of support

Meghalaya chief minister Conrad Sangma thanked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for reaching out and extending their support after the state witnessed a hung assembly in the elections on Thursday. Sharing BJP's ‘letter of support’, Sangma said that the National People's Party (NPP) and the saffron party will “continue to work together”.

“Thank you @BJP4Meghalaya for reaching out to the NPP and for extending your support to our party to form the Government. We will continue to work together to serve Meghalaya and its people,” he wrote on Twitter, tagging Amit Shah, JP Nadda, and Himanta Biswa Sarma.

Also read: Meghalaya's Conrad Sangma on results: ‘NPP still short of numbers, will decide…’

The letter - written by BJP state president Ernest Mawrie read, “As per directions from BJP President JP Nadda, I hereby formally communicate with you and submit a letter of support for the institution of a new government.”

“I am to express my special estimation that we shall work together and alleviate our relationship in the best interest of the state,” he added.

BJP - which contested the assembly elections alone despite being in an alliance with the NPP for the last five years, secured just two seats. The NPP emerged as the single-largest party in the state with securing 26 seats out of the total 59, it still fell short of a majority.

Earlier in the day, Mawrie had said that the BJP would have bagged more seats had the two allies fought in partnership, reported PTI.

Assam chief minister and the BJP's Northeast face Himanta Biswa Sarma in the evening had announced on Twitter that Sangma reached out to union home minister Amit Shah and sought support.

Also read: Smaller parties do it again; win one-third of total seats in Meghalaya

“Sri @SangmaConrad, Chief Minister of Meghalaya, called @AmitShahji, Hon'ble Home Minister, and sought his support and blessings in forming the new Government,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that he is “grateful for those who supported BJP in Meghalaya”. “We will keep working hard to enhance the development trajectory of Meghalaya and focus on empowering the people of the state. I am also thankful to our party workers for the effort they put,” he wrote on Twitter.