Dimapur, June 28 (EMN): Notwithstanding reports in the local media of the widening of cracks in their political marriage, chief minister Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu has described the NPF party as “the natural ally of the BJP”.
Liezietsu, who is also the president of NPF, was quoting saying thus by the media cell of the chief minister’s office (CMO) on Wednesday. The CMO statement informed that he was speaking at a ‘consultative meeting with the party workers of NPF Arunachal Pradesh state unit’ at NPF central office conference hall on Wednesday.
The chief minister was reported as saying that the NPF was the only political party which represents the Naga people, and ‘can preserve their identity’. “Recalling the association of the party which is the oldest in the north-eastern region with the BJP, he said the NPF has been aligned with the non-Congress national party as early as 1977 and that this alliance was renewed in early 2003 when the then chairman of the NDA, George Fernandes, along with few other non-Congress parties in the state, formed the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland.
“The chief minister also said that the NPF party should be introduced not only to all the Naga inhabited areas but to all tribal areas in the region stating that this will be the first step towards integrating the tribal peoples of the region”, read the CMO statement.
The chief minister said that the demand for integration of the whole Naga-inhabited areas may be difficult at present but that coming together under the umbrella of the NPF could be the first step to integrate the people emotionally and politically, it stated further.
He was reported as citing the cases of Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh where, according to him, the introduction of NPF party had given the Naga people living in said states ‘a sense of belongingness as one Naga family’.
“Advising the party leaders to work hard, the chief minister said that the NPF must participate in the next Arunachal Pradesh government so as to address the developmental issues faced by the Naga people in the state”, it stated.
He reportedly reminded the NPF members that if the party finds representation in three different assemblies, then it would gain national party status.
The CMO statement also reported the chairman of DAN, TR Zeliang as saying ‘that other Naga regional parties such as the recently-launched Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been formed to confuse the Naga people but it is only the NPF that recognized the whole of Naga-inhabited areas and work for the people’.
