DIMAPUR, MAY 21 (MExN): Criticizing Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu Rio’s speech at the NDA parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) today lamented that Rio could have used the platform for a “better agenda.” Instead, the NPCC stated, that Rio, who is the MP elect from Nagaland state, had chosen to “indulge in talking points which were out of context and had no relevance in that given moment of political opportunity as the state’s representative.”
NPCC media cell, in a press note, stated that Rio had “stooped to a low level of politics in the vain hope of convincing his new found mentors.” Referring to the Nagaland CM’s statement that he had decided to contest the Lok Sabha elections after meeting Narendra Modi, the NPCC alleged that this “implies that his decision to contest was not out of his concern for the Naga’s as he had proclaimed all along during his election campaign.” It said that Rio’s statement is “an insult to the people of Nagaland, especially for those who had voted for him.”
The NPCC reminded that the previous BJP led NDA government had wiped out the deficit of Rs 365 crores when the DAN government came to power in 2003. It added that Rs 400 crores was sanctioned for four laning of Dimapur-Kohima Highway. However, 11 later, the NPCC said that, “Rio has only himself to blame for ensuring that the work never took off.” The NPCC stated that after the Congress led UPA came to power in 2004, Nagaland state had been “flooded with hundreds and thousands of crores through UPA flagship schemes and in which Rio remains the biggest beneficiary.” It further said that besides funding from various flagship schemes, the Congress led UPA had sanctioned Rs 712 crores in 2010 for the state to implement the 6th RoP for its employees.
As such the NPCC questioned the Nagaland CM’s statement that he was “badly suppressed and punished by the UPA during the past 10 years.” NPCC took further jibes at Rio by stating that “the growth of his wealth and fortune tells a different story.” It pointed out that “establishment of luxury resorts, owning countless commercial buildings in Kohima and Dimapur, procuring thousands of acres of land all across the state and large scale investments in both immovable and movable assets outside the state were all done during his years in power while the state infrastructure slipped into dilapidated conditions.”
Regarding the imposition of Presidents rule in January 2008, the NPCC pointed out that the DAN government had “lost the no confidence motion in December 2007, but managed to hang to power by misusing the office of the Speaker.” “By dismissing his minority government, which had lost the no confidence motion, the principles of democracy prevailed,” it added. The NPCC further alleged that the NPF had won the next two elections “on the support of gun and money power as the entire process of democracy was subverted to force a purchased mandate.”
Stating that the DAN government has created “so much of liability in the state” during the last 11 years, the NPCC questioned the Nagaland CM’s assurance to BJP leaders that the state would not be a liability to the nation and that it would be a “contributor to nation building.”
