DIMAPUR, JULY 16 (MExN): Spokesperson for the present government led by Chief Minister, Dr Shürhozelie Liezietsu and Minister for School Education, Yitachu today said that the NPF Party is open to a total reconciliation process.”
While stating that NPF “would not like to place in the public domain the internal matters of the party,” the Minister in a press statement today said certain facts however “need to be placed on record for the people to know since the issue has surfaced in the public domain through certain press releases.”
He stated that in the present scenario, the Leader of the House is Dr. Shürhozelie by virtue of being the Chief Minister and there is no vacancy for the Chief Minister’s post.
“There is no Leader of Opposition because it is an opposition-less Government. Even if there is an Opposition party in the Assembly, if the number of MLAs is less than 1/6th of the total number of MLAs, one cannot be termed as a Leader of Opposition. That is why in the 12th House with 8 Congress opposition MLAs, their Legislature Party Leader could not be termed as Leader of Opposition and was not accorded any official status, but only referred to as Congress Legislature Party leader,” the Minister reminded.
He termed it “unfortunate that the issue which could be resolved in the party, which is purely an NPF internal party problem, has now been dragged to the Governor’s office and Speaker’s office.” Yitachu said that both Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu and TR Zeliang are members of NPF and “their differences should be decided in the party forum first.”
He reminded that Dr Shürhozelie was forced to take over the CM’s office and cited how on May 26, 2017, the DAN Legislators Meeting unanimously endorsed the view that Dr. Shürhozelie, should become a Member of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly and work together as a solid team to facilitate the same. Further, the Minister said that the DAN Legislators had appealed to the Election Commission of India to conduct the bye-election for the 10 Northern Angami-I A/C at the earliest.
“The fact that TR Zeliang cannot move a no-confidence motion is simply because he belongs to the party which, the Chief Minister Dr. Shürhozelie heads, that is, the NPF Party. Therefore, constitutionally and legally, Dr. Shürhozelie still enjoys absolute majority in the House, because, NPF alone commands 47 members in the House of 60,” the Nagaland School Education Minister reasoned.
He viewed that the confidence motion would put the NPF MLAs where they could be disqualified if they voted against the Party Whip. “The MLAs are being misguided to say that the Speaker’s office will not disqualify them. However, the Court is at our door-step and their disqualification will become imminent if the matter is taken to Court because the Constitution and the law of the land is supreme,” he said.
The Minister meanwhile asserted that the reconciliation process should not be treated as one’s weakness. “The people desire for peace, development and progress. The stability of the DAN Government is in the total interest of the people of the State,” he added.
Yitachu urged the legislators not go against the wishes of the people and try to resort to unconstitutional means, but settle differences in the party forum through reconciliation. “We should carry forward the constitutional obligations mandated by the people to the DAN coalition,” he concluded.
DAN Chairman apologises for turmoil, urges against provocative statements
DIMAPUR, JULY 16 (MExN): Chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) Coordination Committee, Kuzholuzo (Azo) Nienu today appealed to both camps in the NPF or any other coalition party such as NCP, JDU, BJP and NPF “not to issue any provocative statement which may affect the progress of the reconciliation process.”
In a statement today, the DAN Chairman meanwhile also apologized to the people for the current political turmoil in the state, and assured that “we will all do the best in our capacity to bring back things to normalcy at the earliest.”
He reminded that in the hope of reconciliation and to further strengthen the DAN alliance, the Chief Minister along with the legislators and its party functionaries on July 13 had agreed to induct one more Minister and two Parliamentary Secretaries from among the four BJP MLAs. “This I believe is a clear indication of strengthening the alliance,” Azo viewed.
The other step towards reconciliation was by way of revoking the suspension of all the ten suspended MLAs and MP, Neiphiu Rio, he said and reasoned that this is a juncture where “both groups are trying to embrace reconciliation in its true spirit.” “As leaders, we all must wake and rise up to the situation and find a common ground in the greater interest of the NPF party and DAN coalition partners in general. The aim of any arguments or discussions should not be biased or aimed at one sided victory alone but should be aimed at progress, improvement, corrective and constructive amicable solutions,” Azo maintained.
Calling for a meeting point between the two camps, Azo said that “our primary focus should be to consolidate the party, keep the alliance intact, deliver goods and justice to the public and live up to the expectations of our electorate.”
Reminding that “we approach the end of our tenure with hardly few months to go,” the DAN Chairman said “this is the most propitious time for all Naga leaders to unite, keep aside any grudges, bury our hatchets and commit to finding a permanent solution to the present dilemma and predicament through collective political wisdom and foresight.” He meanwhile appealed to the public to “maintain peace, calm and pray” for “a better tomorrow.”
