Dr SC Jamir speaking at a press conference addressed by AICC secretary and the party’s Nagaland incharge Pradyut Bordoloi and NPCC president K. Therie onNovember 9. (Photo: @INCNagaland, the Official Twitter Account of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee)
Party stalwart SC Jamir attends demonetisation anniv protest
Morung Express News
Dimapur | November 9
The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) said it will contest the Assembly bye-poll to the vacant 26 Aonglenden Assembly Constituency. The announcement was made today in Dimapur at a press conference addressed by AICC secretary and the party’s Nagaland incharge Pradyut Bordoloi and NPCC president K. Therie.
“We have decided to contest the Assembly bye-poll for the (vacant) 26 Aonglenden Assembly Constituency,” said Bordoloi. Tentatively set to occur in early 2019, entering the bye-poll contest in the prestigious constituency once held by Congress veteran and 5-time Chief Minister SC Jamir would give the NPCC a semblance of presence in the lead up to the Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress has no presence in the 13th Nagaland Legislative Assembly unable to win even a single seat in the February 2018 state Assembly polls. Earlier, in the 12th NLA, the party’s numbers was reduced to zero after its eight legislators shifted loyalty en-masse to join the NPF.
The party, Bordoloi said, have agreed “on principle” to contest the Lok Sabha 2019 polls. “We are exploring possibilities and gaining strength so that we can field our own candidate.” The party has yet to pick names, he added.
Asked on the NPCC siding with the NPF like it did last time, Therie said, “As of now, we are very confident. We will go on our own.”
“We have hope that we will come out good at the upcoming Lok Sabha polls,” Bordoloi added.
The press conference was preceded by a party meeting which also had in attendance NPCC stalwart SC Jamir. He, however, evaded queries from the media and was clearly trying hard to not have his picture taken as he hurriedly left the venue at 4th Mile after the meeting concluded.
The NPCC also organised a rally in Dimapur marking the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) nation-wide remonstration campaign on the second anniversary of the Narendra Modi-led NDA government’s “demonitisation” decision of November 2016. Party workers proceeded from 4th Mile to the Deputy Commissioner’s office where it briefly assembled holding placards and shouting slogans.
Bordoloi termed the demonitisation of 2016 as “suicidal decision” of the BJP. “By this reckless action, the BJP acted as a catalyst for ruining the economy and making the lives of labourers ( and small time business owners).”
Queried on the effects of demonitisation in Nagaland, he referred to the country’s GDP plummeting by 2 percent, while adding it could be more for Nagaland without citing any figures. In addition, he said that the BJP and its allies have destroyed the country’s moral institutions.
The NPCC will also work towards winning over the people, Bordoloi said, while adding that its objectives also include reactivating the grassroot level organisation of the party starting from the polling station. According to him, it involves a “mass contact programme” that would have party workers going door-to-door to highlight the “total failure of the ruling (PDA) alliance in Nagaland.”
He further made claims of the Congress deciding to reject contributions from the rich and corrupt and rather accepting contributions from the common people. Such contributions, he said, will be duly acknowledged on paper.
