Former ally BJP hits out at NPF govt

Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 26

The BJP has bombarded the NPF-led DAN government on three issues - women reservation, ‘Frontier Nagaland’ separate statehood and corruption. 

Taking a dig at the handling of the women reservation issue by the NPF, BJP North East in-charge, P Chandrasekhar Rao, at a press conference here at the party office on Monday questioned why the NPF party was against 33% reservation of seats for women in the municipal bodies when the rest of the country was accommodating women in civic and local bodies. 

“Except for Meghalaya and Nagaland, all others states have quota for women in municipal bodies. Why is the NPF against women and women leadership? NPF needs only women’s vote and not their leadership. Let all women vote against NPF in the next assembly election,” Rao said. 

The BPJ leader argued that if women can give birth to men, raise children, run homes and manage families, then they are also capable enough to take part in affairs of the state. 

“BJP demands 33% reservation for women in the Parliament and states. We have already implemented 33% reservation for women in our party system. We are talking since we have already implemented in our party,” Rao said. 

On the burning issue of ‘Frontier Nagaland’ comprising of the four districts Mon, Tuensang, Kiphire and Longleng by Eastern Nagaland Peoples’ Organization (ENPO), Rao said the demand was based on years of neglect of the backward districts by successive state governments. He said for decades the people of eastern Nagaland have been deprived in almost all aspects including development and employment and that both the Congress and NPF are to be blamed for the present public outcry. 

Rao said that BJP is in the process of formulating plans on how to correct the “injustices” faced by the people of the four districts. 

The BJP Northeast in-charge also lashed out at the alleged rampant corruption of the DAN government and termed chief minister Neiphiu Rio as the most corrupted chief minister in history of Nagaland state, even overtaking former Congress chief minster SC Jamir. 

“The state has become debt-ridden but the personal property of the chief minister and ministers are growing day by day and in the last nine years of DAN government, their personal property has increased hundred-fold or more, while the number of BPL families in the state has shot up,” he said. 

Alleging that Rio’s government was only for “200 people and not 20 lakh people”, the BJP leader said that the 200 people included selected bureaucrats and contractors. He said that the public has at last come to know the reality of the DAN government and realized the need for an alternative government or third front minus the Congress and NPF. 

Referring to the recent Planning Commission’s report that the poverty level in Nagaland state was the highest in the country, Nagaland state BJP president, M Chuba, questioned what kind of manipulation was going on in 9 years of DAN governance. Chuba also dwelled on the scams in the Education Department.