The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to withdraw support from the National People’s Party (NPP) led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government within a month, party national vice-president and Meghalaya in-charge M Chuba Ao said on Saturday.

The BJP has two MLAs in the coalition government including six parties, dominated by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma’s NPP.

Discussions on the matter are underway at various levels of the party, Ao informed, mentioning that that a final course of action will emerge within a month following the end of talks.

He said that the party has been taking note of the varied reports of allegations of corruption against the Meghalaya government and the CBI would handle the charges after they acquire all the papers.

According to reports, following the arrest of Meghalaya BJP vice-president Bernard N Marak, the relation with Sangma-led NPP has deteriorated, even though the BJP is an important part of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

Marak had been arrested from Uttar Pradesh on July 25 on charges of running a brothel in the West Garo Hills district of Meghalaya.

BJP leaders and party workers had organised protests earlier in Tura demanding a fair probe into the matter, while party workers in the West Garo Hills district had organised a signature campaign demanding the removal of superintendent of police (SP) and deputy commissioner (DC) of the district over the issue.

BJP leaders, who came to Marak’s defence, claimed that the farmhouse busted in the brothel case had been operational since 2019. However, raids were carried out at the location months ahead of assembly elections in the state so as to malign the image of Marak and to damage his political ambitions.