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Dimapur, Jan. 14 (EMN): Minister for Higher and Technical Education, and Tribal Affairs Temjen Imna Along was unanimously re-elected as president of the Nagaland unit of BJP for the 2020-23 tenure on Tuesday.
Minister of Transport, Civil Aviation, Railways and Land, P Paiwang Konyak was elected as a national council member of BJP for the same tenure.
This was announced at a ‘declaration programme’ held at Hotel Saramati in Dimapur, which had in attendance, among others, national general secretary of BJP, Sushri Saroj Pandey and BJP MLA from Bihar, Nitin Nabin.
According to Pandey, the duo was elected by an electoral college comprising 60 state council members; and with the party’s consent, the central leaders had nominated Along as the president of state BJP.
Along, in his acceptance speech, said that the BJP in Nagaland has ‘come a long way and we have further more to go’. He urged the party members to keep working hard.
The ‘declaration programme’ was followed by a press conference at which general secretary of the Nagaland unit of BJP, James Vizo informed that the national president of BJP would also be declared within a week or two. He added that Along was the ninth president of Nagaland BJP.
According to Vizo, nominations were filed by Along and Dr. Sukhato A Sema, for the president’s post.
The newly re-elected party president congratulated P Paiwang Konyak for being elected as a national council member representing the state’s BJP unit.
He maintained that the BJP, like any other political party, is a ‘secular democratic party having its ethos and principles on nationalism’.
Along asserted that a new team, with a new set of office-bearers, would be formed soon to ‘work relentlessly to bridge the gaps, remove confusions and empower the deprived people through development, progress and prosperity’.
He also thanked the BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton as well as the party members. He shared that he was looking forward to a ‘good innings’ and that he was ‘open to suggestion as well as criticism’.
When asked about the two vacant seats in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly with the demise of two legislators—T Torechu (NPF) and Vikho-o Yhoshü (NDPP)—Along said that as far as he was concerned, the NDPP “is our ally and BJP is a part of the PDA”. He asserted that the BJP will ‘keep the principle on which the PDA was formed from the very beginning, and will keep the alliance together’.
When queried on the issue of Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), Along responded that the Act will not affect Nagaland as a state, stating that Nagaland has been empowered by Constitutional provisions such as BEFR, 1973 and Article 371 (A).
He asserted that the CAA is not an Act to take away citizenship, ‘but it is an Act that one can apply for the citizenship’; and added that people have been misguided.
Along further said that Nagaland has ILP regime, which was not implemented properly by successive governments. He maintained that the problem “lies with us, not with the union government”.
Also, Along assured that the new office-bearers would do their best to ‘clear the confusions concerning the CAA.’