Dimapur, May 3 (EMN): Sending the opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) into further turmoil, seven assembly constituency presidents have resigned their membership from the party, alleging the NPF leadership of ‘dictatorial’ functioning.
The functionaries who resigned on Friday were the presidents of Tehok assembly constituency (AC), Mon Town AC, Aboi AC, Moka AC, Tamlu AC, Tuensang Sadar-I AC, and Tuensang Sadar-II AC.
In a joint statement, they stated that the “NPF has given up its regional ideology and has betrayed the trust of the people. The suspension of the seven MLAs against all norms is a clear case of high command rule and a disconnect with the masses.”
According to them, while the seven rebel NPF legislators had supported the regional spirit, the remaining NPF MLAs and all its leaders had openly campaigned and voted for a national party. “…ironically it was the seven who supported the regional principle who got suspended to the extent of seeking their disqualification from the Assembly.
“The NPF claim that it has been partner with the BJP since long decades and continues to partner with the BJP in Manipur where the party even has a minister. But in Nagaland the NPF claims that the BJP is a communal party. It is only when the electorate has put the NPF in opposition that the NPF has declared BJP to be communal.
“We as NPF leaders in the grassroots level have never been informed about BJP being communal in all the decades of years but now suddenly the communal issue has surfaced and our leaders have been suspended. What is more surprising is that our NPF leaders have voted for Congress these years. The truth is that, the seven MLAs have stood up for regional spirit while the tall leaders of NPF have given up regionalism and sacrificed the ideology of Congress party,” they stated.
Under such circumstances, they declared, there is no option but to resign from the NPF party and join the NDPP under the leadership of Neiphiu Rio and Chingwang Konyak “in order to remain with our ideology and principle of regionalism.”
