Therie steps down after poll debacle; Supongmeren is new NPCC president

Kohima: Kewekhape Therie (K Therie) on Friday resigned as the president of Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC), taking moral responsibility for the debacle of the grand old party in the recent state assembly election.

This was announced by the communications department of NPCC through a press release.

The move came more than four weeks after the Congress failed to win a single seat from 23 constituencies it contested in the state general election held last month, the result of which was declared on March 2. It was the party’s second consecutive whitewash in Nagaland assembly election under Therie’s leadership, after it was reduced from eight in 2013 poll to nil in 2018.

Speaking to Eastern Mirror on Friday, the 69-year-old senior Congress leader said that he had put in his papers to honour the verdict of the people in the recent election, after serving as the state party chief for about eight years.

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He said that his resignation letter had to put on hold for sometime due to the announcement of elections to the urban local bodies (ULB) by the state election commission earlier this month.

However, now that the state government has announced the cancellation of the election, he has put in his papers to the president of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) for consideration.

“I have sent hard copies (of resignation paper) and awaiting them to see,” he told this newspaper, adding that the AICC would accept it as he had requested.

He said that it was his responsibility to step down after the recent debacle.

“The verdict itself is everything; the verdict of the people has rejected Congress and my leadership. So I am honouring only that,” he stated.

He went on to say that the new generation should take over with a “renewed hope” to bring the party back to life again.

Making it clear that he would remain in the party despite stepping down from the state unit’s top post, Therie said, “I am Congressman. Where can I go?”

“When I am standing for a secular ideology and freedom of faith, I think I cannot be a part of growing fascism,” he added.

It may be mentioned that Therie won the election from Pfutsero Assembly Constituency (AC) in 2003 on Naga People’s Front ticket but failed to retain the seat in the subsequent elections, including in 2018 (on Congress ticket). He contested from 1 Dimapur-I AC in the recent election but conceded defeat to H Tovihoto Ayemi of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).