Himanta Biswa Sarma Emerges As Ace Negotiator, Eases Creases For Formation Of Three State Governments In Northeast

The past six days have been unusually hectic for Assam’s finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma. And not because of the state budget that he will be presenting on Monday (12 March). As soon as the results of the assembly elections in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya started trickling in from 3 March morning, the responsibility of installing BJP and BJP-aligned governments in the three states fell on him.

Sarma was stationed in Tripura’s capital Agartala last Saturday (3 March) morning. Even as it was becoming very clear that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would bag most of the seats in Tripura, slightly disturbing news started coming in from Meghalaya where the Congress emerged as the single largest party with 21 MLAs (in the 60-member assembly). By late morning, senior Congress leaders Ahmed Patel, Kamal Nath and Mukul Wasnik were on their way to (Meghalaya’s capital) Shillong to cobble together a majority with the help of some regional parties and independent MLAs.

Sarma, who had already made a few trips to Meghalaya and Nagaland in the run-up to the elections, besides campaigning extensively in Tripura and stationing himself there for days at a stretch in the weeks leading to the polls, rushed to Shillong to defeat the Congress’ designs. The BJP believes that the mandate in Meghalaya was anti-Congress and if the Congress managed to cobble together a majority with its slush funds, it would amount to disrespecting the mandate of the people.

So Sarma reached Shillong later that afternoon and held extensive parleys with the BJP’s allies and associates who the Congress was trying to buy over: the National People’s Party (NPP) with 19 seats, the UDP with six seats, the HSPDP with two seats and the PDF with four seats. Along with the BJP, this bloc bagged 33 of the 60 seats in the state assembly. But there were some differences between the regional parties. The HSPDP wanted a Khasi, and not NPP chief Conrad Sangma (who belongs to the Garo tribe of the state) to become the chief minister. This issue had the potential of snowballing into a major hitch in government formation and could trigger an ugly rift between the two major tribes of the state. Sarma had to nip this fissiparous issue in the bud.

There were also many other issues that had to be ironed out. A few leaders of the different allies and associates of the BJP had personal differences and overlapping interests. Then there were competing demands for ministerial berths and the issue of proportional representation in the cabinet of not only all the tribes, but also all the constituents. On top of all these were the machinations of the three top Congress leaders who had air-dashed from Delhi and camping in Shillong, making attractive offers to MLAs to support a Congress government. Kamal Nath offered a power-sharing formula to the UDP. Sarma’s meetings with the leaders of the regional parties and newly-elected legislators continued throughout the night and till Sunday morning. At the end of the marathon exercise, Conrad Sangma staked claim to form the government, which was subsequently sworn in on Tuesday (read this article).

Nagaland was next on Sarma’s plate and the state presented a peculiar problem that took a lot of Sarma’s famed persuasive and negotiation skills to overcome. The BJP was an alliance partner of the incumbent Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government with the Naga People's Front (NPF) being the major partner. The DAN government had been in power in Nagaland since 2003. But just before the polls, the BJP snapped ties with the NPF and formed a pre-poll alliance with the Neiphiu Rio-led National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP). Rio was, till he formed the NDPP, the senior most leader of the NPF.

The Nagaland election results were very close: the NPF won 27 seats in the 60-member assembly, while the NDPP-BJP combine won 29 seats (the BJP won 12 seats), Conrad Sangma’s NPP won 2 seats and the Janata Dal (United) bagged one seat. The NPP had a pre-poll alliance with the NPF and with the JD(U), which is part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the national level. The NPF not only staked claim to form the government, but also invited the BJP to dump its ally NDPP and join forces with it to form the government. Incumbent Chief Minister and NPF leader T R Zeliang even refused to vacate the Chief Minister’s chair and presented a legal argument that since the BJP was part of his DAN government even at the time of going to the polls and did not leave the government, the NPF-BJP alliance continues.

Sarma flew off from Meghalaya to Nagaland Sunday afternoon after tying all loose ends in Meghalaya. He held long meetings with the NPP and the lone JD(U) legislator, as also with many NDPP leaders. He sent emissaries to Zeliang and personally met many senior NPF leaders in a bid to make them realise the reality that the BJP-NPF alliance is history. The NPF then threatened to withdraw support to the BJP-led coalition government in neighbouring Manipur. The NPF has four MLAs in Manipur and one of them is a cabinet minister. Though it would not have destabilised the government in Manipur, the withdrawal would have dented its image and that of the BJP in the region as well.

After protracted talks and negotiations, Zeliang saw the writing on the wall and stepped down from office. Sarma had to ensure that Zeliang did not become a foe of the BJP because, given the nature of politics in the region, it is never known when the BJP may require his help in Nagaland or Manipur. Thus, Sarma had to make sure that the parting with the NPF was not bitter. The advantage he had was that he knows most of the leaders in Nagaland, as well as other states in the region, personally.

But even as Sarma was huddled in meetings in (Nagaland capital) Kohima for the better part of Sunday night and Monday morning, news came in that the Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT), an alliance partner of the BJP in Tripura, was threatening to walk out of the alliance if it did not get the deputy chief minister’s post. But the BJP, which bagged 35 seats in the 60-member Tripura assembly (the IPFT got 8), had already announced the name of Jishnu Debbarma as the Deputy Chief Minister early Monday afternoon. There was no way it could go back on the announcement. IPFT chief N C Debbarma termed it as a betrayal and announced that if the Deputy Chief Minister’s post was not given to the IPFT, his party would sit in the opposition benches along with the CPI(M).

Coming on the heels of the stupendous victory in Tripura, the breakup of the alliance with the IPFT would dampen the celebratory mood within the BJP and portray it as a party that is unable to accommodate allies. That would have sent a wrong signal to the rest of the country. Though the BJP had the majority to form the government on its own in Tripura, leaving out the IPFT would have been morally wrong and would have alienated the tribals, who had supported the BJP overwhelmingly. The alliance had to be saved and Sarma had to rush back to Agartala on Tuesday afternoon to placate the IPFT.

After landing in Agartala, Sarma again went into talks with the IPFT leaders, including N C Debbarma. Only after a lot of persuasion did the latter relent. The negotiations, said those in the know, were tough and long. Sarma was already tired after three near-sleepless nights at a trot, and the long hours of endless and often intractable talks with different parties and individuals in three states. Finally, on Wednesday afternoon, Debbarma agreed to give up the demand for the Deputy Chief Minister’s post. But even while he was negotiating with Debbarma and the IPFT, Sarma had to be in constant touch with the BJP and its allies and associates in Meghalaya and Nagaland. He had to fly back to Shillong on Wednesday for the swearing-in ceremony of Conrad Sangma and then to Kohima for Rio’s swearing-in on Thursday.

All the while, Sarma also had to keep in touch with senior officers of the many departments - finance, health and family welfare, tourism, education, planning and development, pension and public grievances - that he is in charge of in Assam. Sarma could fly back to Guwahati only after the oath-taking ceremony in Agartala on Friday (9 March) afternoon. And there, he plunged headlong into the mammoth budget-making exercise. He has a little over two days to complete this exercise before he walks into the Assam assembly to present it.

Politicians close to Sarma who have seen him work say he is not only a smooth multi-tasker, but also has excellent interpersonal skills. Sarma is a great negotiator and has fantastic powers of persuasion. He is also a good listener and very patient. What works to his advantage is he does not need more than three hours of sleep and has a rare capacity to work for hours at a stretch. He also does his homework thoroughly before meeting anyone and easily strikes a rapport. And because of his long years in politics, he knows most of the politicians of the Northeast, which is why Sarma has emerged as the BJP’s ace in the region. No wonder then, say some central BJP leaders, the party is keen on using his skills at the national level.