DIMAPUR, AUGUST 3 (MExN): The NPF central office today replied to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Tokheho Yepthomi’s recent statement and made clear that “suspended and expelled members of the NPF cannot and should not claim to be the NPF Legislature Party but consider themselves as unattached members of the august House.”
“If they are so keen to cling to the NPF nomenclature they should realise the folly of their misadventures in the recent times that are harming the very political party they seem to love so much,” a press note from the NPF central said.
The NPF central claimed that “the meeting of February 15 night came about through the initiative of Tokheho who phoned up KG Kenye to urgently organize a meeting and bring the signature campaign to a logical conclusion. Therefore, it was not KG Kenye who organized the meeting but Tokheho and few others like Patton.”
It further claimed that the following midnight meeting at the State Banquet Hall that same night “had been left out” of the Minister’s narrative. The NPF central then laid out a series of events from that meeting to several legislators making their way to Kaziranga.
“To be very fair, it must be pointed out that not all the legislators went to Kaziranga on February 17-18 last. Honourable member like Mr Tokheho, for instance, was not informed for reasons not known to many,” it added.
The NPF central then listed out the Parliamentary Affairs Minister’s electoral history with as both Congress legislator and member of the DAN ruling government at varying times.
“Indeed, it is a matter of great academic interest that at present we have different categories of NPF MLAs: NPF MLAs through merger who have never been issued with an NPF Ticket; NPF MLAs who develop cold turkey when out of power for even a few months; Independent MLAs who act more loyal than NPF MLAs because they need NPF ticket to win in the next election; NPF MLAs who have a separate set of toiletries packed and ready to be stacked into their vehicle to rush off anytime to Kaziranga at the snap of the fingers,” it concluded.
