The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday announced that it will contest the February 27 Assembly elections in Nagaland.

The Nagaland unit of the party, led by its state President Visasolie Lhonugu, met the party’s General Secretary Ram Madhav in New Delhi to discuss the matter, the party’s state media cell said.

“After a thorough deliberation, it was agreed upon that the Bharatiya Janata Party would contest the election for the cause of solution in the state as per scheduled,” read the statement. “Bharatiya Janata Party is for early solution to the present Naga Political issue and BJP will be part of the system to implement all the agreements held between the government of India and the negotiating parties.”

The decision comes just days after 11 political parties, including the BJP and the ruling Naga People’s Front, signed a bond to not contest the elections till the Naga peace talks conclude. The agreement came in the aftermath of an appeal from the Core Committee of Nagaland Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations calling on political parties to stay away from elections and instead insist on a resolution to the peace process first.

The next day, however, the BJP issued a clarification, saying that its representatives in the state did not have the authority to sign the bond and also suspended the two people who were at the meeting.

After the Election Commission issued a notification for the Assembly polls, political parties and civil society groups called for a 12-hour dawn-to-dusk bandh in the state. The Core Committee of Naga Tribal Hohos and Civil Organisations had called Thursday’s strike. The bandh was near total in five districts but failed to find support in six other districts. While the strike was effective in Dimapur, its impact was minimal in the state capital of Kohima.

The Naga peace talks

For decades, Naga rebel groups have been fighting for Nagalim or Greater Nagaland. The Centre has been in talks with NSCN(IM), the largest Naga rebel group, since 1997, when the group signed a ceasefire.

In 2015, these talks got a boost after Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed a “framework agreement” with the NSCN(IM). While details of the framework agreement have not yet been made public, it is believed to acknowledge the “uniqueness of Naga history and culture” in exchange for NSCN(IM)’s respect for the “primacy of the Indian constitution”.

In December, the Nagaland Assembly had asked the Centre to find a solution to end the crisis before the elections. Earlier in January, various organisations in the state had urged Modi to defer the Assembly elections in the state.