‘Accepting 8 Cong MLAs daylight robbery’

EMN Dimapur, November 23 NPCC President K. Therie today criticized the NLA speaker for accepting the merger of 8 Congress MLAs with the NPF legislature party without notifying the Congress party which he said is akin to a daylight robbery. Therie said, the speaker has lost all moral authority to hold the chair as he could not rise above party politics to uphold the sanctity of the constitution. NPCC president in a statement said, “The speaker of the Nagaland Legislative Assembly has arm twisted the anti-defection laws to dismiss the disqualification petition filed by the NPCC against 8 Congress MLAs who violated the party directives. Dismissal of the disqualification petition has disregarded the Nagaland Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 2003 and by which the speaker has demeaned the constitutional office that he holds.” “Living in a society where majority professes to be Christians, one is expected to be upright and honest in our intent and spirit to uphold the law in preventing defections and horse-trading, but the judgment of the speaker is a tight slap and a mockery of the entire anti-defection laws,” Theire said. Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Therie condemned the statement of Governor PB Acharya ‘Hindustan is for Hindus’ and demanded an immediate replacement. “He should be relieved of his duties as Governor of the two states and should perhaps be given time to pursue his religious fervour. Uttering that India is Hindustan for Hindus has revealed the agenda with which he was appointed to a Christian state like Nagaland.” “They are the ones creating law and order problems in the nation through their irresponsible utterances. Being a Constitutional Head of two states, he is expected to be more careful in his utterances. We demand that he be replaced immediately if he cannot uphold the Secular spirit of the Constitution of India.”   Opposition-less govt is formed for Naga political solution: CM  Our Correspondent KOHIMA, NOVEMBER 23 Following the approval of merger of 8 Congress MLAs with the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) and subsequent announcement made by the Nagaland Legislative Assembly Speaker Chotisuh Sazo notifying the merger, Chief Minister TR Zeliang today said efforts to form an opposition-less government in Nagaland have finally become a reality, both “de-facto and de-jure”. With the recent merger, the NPF now has 46 legislators in the House of 60 members, a record tally by any regional party in the history of Nagaland, Zeliang told journalists on Monday in Kohima. He reiterated that the main motivating factor for forming an opposition-less government is to strengthen the efforts to find solution to the protracted Naga political issue, which, he emphasized, has always been at the top of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland’s political agenda. The Chief Minister also stressed that the opposition-less government was not formed merely for a political slogan or propaganda nor for scoring political mileage but solely to strengthen peace efforts. “Now we are in a much better position than ever before to work unitedly for the common cause and goal of the Nagas,” he maintained, while underscoring the need for all to shed their differences on the issue and to act and move forward as one entity and work for the final resolution of the over six decades old Naga political problem. On speculations of a possible reshuffle in his ministry, TR Zeliang said so far no decisions were made and the speculative report which appeared in one of the newspapers did not emerge from the CMO. While welcoming the 8 Congress MLAs into the NPF party-fold, NPF president Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu expressed confidence that the party position is stable and NPF will come back to power beyond 2018. He remarked that the legal aspects were covered in regard to the merger and the 8 Congress MLAs joining the NPF is legal, and the NPF has accepted them. He also asserted that the strategy for an all-party government was worked out mainly because of the Naga political issue, for all the legislators to have one voice supporting the ongoing peace process because Naga people want a settlement. “Bringing all the members of the House together is a unique arrangement and we are grateful to God for giving us such an opportunity and we believe that this will certainly help the peace process,” the NPF chief said. (Former) Congress MLA C Apok Jamir, who was also present at the press briefing, acknowledged that he was a staunch member of the Congress and clarified his stand on the merger. More on page 5 He recalled that in January 2015 when there was a move to form a party-less government to take up the political issue effectively, the 8 Congress MLAs with the consultation of the party and the executive body, joined the government. “What transpired after that is very unfortunate and the decision which we have taken is basically a decision which is above party interests and ideologies, and more focused on the greater interest of the Nagas as a whole and we are forging and trying to unite ourselves to ensure that there is political settlement at the earliest,” Jamir said. Meanwhile, on the division in the Naga political groups, Chief Minister TR Zeliang said a formula is being worked on and the state government has requested the Centre to give a chance to NSCN (K) to come back into ceasefire. “We want everyone to come in and we are making efforts sending our NGOs to meet them (NSCN (K) ), and the efforts are still on to bring them back to ceasefire,” he said. As for the NSCN (K) being recently declared as an unlawful outfit by the GOI, Zeliang said that matter is “between them” and a decision of the Indian government, and the aspiration of the state is to bring them back into ceasefire again. On August 3 “framework agreement” signed between the NSCN (IM) and the Government of India, Dr. Shürhozelie said it is too early to comment, while the Chief Minister asserted that this is the time to put forward suggestions and not speculate. “In the framework, they have mentioned only about shared power/sovereignty and they have to work out on the modalities,” Zeliang said, adding, “Only with trust, we are going on.”