Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Saturday said that his National People’s Party will not form an alliance with any outfit, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, for the upcoming Assembly polls, PTI reported.

Assembly elections will be held in Meghalaya next year.

Sangma said that the National People’s Party and the BJP are ideologically not on the same page on various matters.

The National People’s Party will continue to remain an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance at the Centre, he clarified at a press conference.

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“As a party we need to work for the sentiments and the aspirations of our people and our state,” Sangma, who is also the party’s president, told ANI.

The chief minister pointed out that his party has never had a pre-poll alliance with any party in any state, PTI reported. Sangma also said that the party will contest Assembly elections in other states like Odisha and Chhattisgarh on its own.

The focus of the party, he clarified, will be on the state elections in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh.

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In the 2018 Meghalaya Assembly elections, the National People’s Party had contested on its own. However, the Congress had emerged as the largest party by winning 21 seats. The National People’s Party was a close second with 19 seats. The BJP had won only two.

But the National People’s Party entered into an alliance with the BJP and other regional parties to form a government in the state.

On Saturday, Sangma also spoke about the Congress’ diminishing popularity in the country, ANI reported.

“What is happening to the Congress is very sad to see,” he said. “For the longest time, no revival is in sight not just in Meghalaya but nationally too. The Trinamool Congress has done well in some places but it will be overrated to say, just now, that it is a major challenge for us with such a short time for the state polls to be held.”