DIMAPUR, OCTOBER 4 (MExN): The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has accused the NPF leader, TR Zeliang of undertaking a whispering campaign in the corridors of New Delhi in an attempt to come back to power as the Chief Minister of Nagaland.
NDPP Media & Communications Committee in a press statement on Thursday alleged that Zeliang along with his family member met with BJP central leaders on September 26 in New Delhi and sought to forge a partnership between the NPF and the BJP once the term of the present NPF president, Dr Shurhozelie comes to an end.
At the meeting, Zeliang assured cooperation to the BJP after the end of Dr Shurhozelie’s term citing the fact that the present NPF president was anti-BJP, the NDPP alleged. He also informed the BJP leadership that he has the support of the independent MLA, the JD (U) and the NPP and that some NDPP Members were also willing to join him.
The NDPP claimed that Zeliang had assured the BJP that if he was made the Chief Minister, he would allocate them whatever portfolio of their choice and that both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha seats from Nagaland would be given to the BJP.
He even went to the extent of assuring that he would not field any candidate against the BJP in the Outer Manipur Parliamentary Lok Sabha seat, it stated.
According to the NDPP press statement, the BJP leadership responded to him by saying that the BJP-NDPP alliance is a pre-poll alliance with a seat-sharing partnership and that it was the Prime Minister who had come to Nagaland to declare the chief ministerial candidate of the PDA coalition.
The BJP also relayed to Zeliang that the “BJP is a responsible national party that cannot betray the confidence and support of the people and that it cannot go back on its political commitments just for the sake of Zeliang’s ambition to become Chief Minister.”
Further, the NDPP alleged that despite being rejected by the BJP leadership, on his return to Nagaland, Zeliang continued his habitual lies when he conveyed to the NPF leadership that he has the assurance and support of the BJP high command to form a new government in Nagaland.
He even informed the NPF leadership that it may be necessary for some NPF MLAs to merge with the BJP and that the NPF should not seek their disqualification since they have to take over power under any means, the NDPP alleged.
Despite such clandestine activities and the spread of habitual lies from Zeliang, the NDPP assured the people that the “PDA Government is firm and stable under an environment of trust and mutual cooperation.”
The PDA leadership has the full confidence of the NDA leadership in Delhi and we are working under a congenial environment of collective teamwork and responsibility, it stated.
