EMN
DIMAPUR, JANUARY 16
The media officer of the Chief Minister has termed the money transfer allegation of Noke Wangnao and G Kaito Aye as forged, fabricated and false. Karaiba Chawang, media officer to the Chief Minister in a statement reiterated that neither the Chief Minister nor his wife, whose names have been dragged in these ‘false allegations’ holds any bank account overseas. The Chief Minister is not a beneficiary of the funds and he invites the Government of India to initiate an enquiry into these allegations by any appropriate Central agency, the statement said. Such enquiry needs to be initiated as early as possible so that the names of the Chief Minister and his wife are cleared from these false allegations, it added. “Such forged and fabricated documents have been manufactured with the malicious intent of tarnishing the image of the Chief Minister and also reaffirm the conspiracy of his detractors to remove him from the chair of the Chief Minister at all costs by resorting to all illegal and foul means. The onus is on the person who produced these documents to prove its authenticity failing which he will be liable to criminal proceedings for forgery and misleading the public,” the statement warned.
The newspapers are requested to kindly refrain from false aspersions being cast by ‘people with no scruples’ as this will tantamount to defamation and hope that this statement will be given equal prominence as the accusations have been given.
“Since the beginning of the dissident activities within the Naga People's Front to remove the Chief Minister from office, the NPF party has always maintained that such a dissident move was initiated without any basis and in complete violation of all constitutional norms of the party and parliamentary decorum binding its elected legislators,” it said.
According to the statement, the recent allegations by Noke Wangnao and G Kaito Aye of the “dissident NPF” against the Chief Minister of ‘corruption’ citing ‘black money transfer’ is a clear sign that the “dissident group” has exhausted all political arguments. It also reflects their willingness to stoop down further by directing their campaign to a personal attack with false accusation, the statement of the Chief Minister’s media officer said.
It then expressed that the Chief Minister is confident that the Naga public who has been witnessing the unfolding twists and turns of the “dissident NPF group” will view this latest somersault as a desperate move to attain political advantage at all costs, even if it means perpetuation of absolute falsehood.
The leaders of the “dissident camp” initially confused their members that once the Governor reaches the State, they would approach him and form the government, which failed, the statement said. “The second tactic was to convince their members that they were being called to Delhi by the Union Home minister but the Home minister refused to meet them. When they failed in removing T.R. Zeliang as the Chief Minister and received information that the Cabinet on January 15 had recommended to the Governor for a confidence motion, some of the dissident leaders and their supporters have come up with these baseless allegations to again confuse their members as well as their supporters,” it added.
“It will not be long before the people of the State will see the real picture when the 'trial of strength' recommended by his cabinet takes place,” the statement said.
NPF president Dr Shurhozelie Liezietsu said he was deeply pained by the corruption allegations directed against him.
Allegations have been purveyed in the media that he was supporting “the exchange of enormous amounts of black money” allegedly stashed in some foreign banks by the Chief Minister of Nagaland.
“I was deeply pained by the level stooped to by the rebel camp in leveling such allegations against me and the Chief Minister. People of the State know that I had a long innings in public life and retired from electoral politics last year. Only as recently as the 26th November 26, 2014, I was elected unopposed to the office of the President of the Naga Peoples’ Front, the longest serving regional party anywhere in the country,” Dr Shurhozelie said. “This is the kind of trust reposed in me by the leaders and public alike in the Naga society. During my entire career, I rarely courted any controversy of this nature,” he added.
According to him, Nagas know that his life is an open book. “I served steadfastly to the cause of the people and public purposes. I am aware that those who support noble cause inevitably meet with attempts of stigmatization. The present allegation is one of such category. With all the force at my command, I stoutly refute these allegations,” he stated.
It is now in public light that how Naga politics has sharply and amazingly shifted from the established order of decency to such low levels of hitting someone below the belt on personal lines, he stated. He then appealed to the Nagas and the general public not to be swayed by these unfounded, baseless and unscrupulous statements of desperate and frustrated elements.
