NDPP flays statements of Liezietsu, Zeliang

Dimapur, June 13 (EMN): The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) has lambasted the Naga People’s Front (NPF) chief Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu and the leader of opposition, TR Zeliang for their respective statements made during the party’s CEC meeting on June 12. A press release from the NDPP on Thursday stated that the NPF chief reportedly giving his legislators free reins to “decide on being in a government” comes as no surprise. “This coming from the patriarch of the very same party that has declared time and again since the general elections of 2018 that it was only a matter of time before they take over the realms of affairs in the state is nothing short of declaring self-defeat.” The statement was not only an insult to the party members but also to the electorates who had reposed their mandate on the NPF legislators, it stated. “The NDPP have in our previous statements, cautioned the Congress party and its president to be wary of the ‘alliance of convenience’ that they had entered into during the just concluded Lok Sabha elections with the NPF; and it comes to no surprise that Dr. Shürhozelie today is attributing the defeat of Mr. KL Chishi, the Congress’ Lok Sabha candidate to the ‘negative approach’ of the Congress leaders! “The president of the NPF seems to have stooped to new low by declaring the alliance with the Congress as a ‘bad bargain’ and that ‘one of the reasons for the failure was because of the presence of so many so-called Congress leaders who have negative approach and did not work for their candidate’. Such condemning words coming from the very person who decided to throw away all principles of the Cock party by aligning himself with the Congress party so as to try and garner some brownie points with the Congress leaders at the centre in the eventuality of the Congress forming the government can only be taken as treachery and a betrayal of the trust that was reposed on the NPF party by the Congress leadership,” it stated. Condemning the statement, NDPP stated that the NPF and its president have taken their politics to such a point that they should have no moral authority in calling themselves a political party. It also expressed shock at TR Zeliang making the statement that Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio had said that Naga integration was not possible. “It has been clarified time and again by both the chief minister’s office as well as that NDPP that the CM had only repeated what was conveyed to him and his team when they met with the then Union Home Minister Mr. Rajnath Singh and his team from the MHA and that this was ‘not’ the chief minister’s statement. “It is unfathomable as to why the leader of opposition finds it so difficult to understand this when it has been explained in plain English and not in a foreign dialect. Perhaps his lack of understanding has to do with his false degree! Recordings of this statement are still available and the chief minister has stated that ‘as of now integration is not possible, that was the discussion stated by the Home Minister.’ The NDPP-led PDA reiterates our support for the integration of all Naga inhabited areas and it is our continued approach to the government of India of this stand,” it stated. The NDPP further expressed surprise at Zeliang openly declaring that in the 2018 by-poll for the Lok Sabha seat, NPF nominee C Apok Jamir—despite having 26 MLAs and supported by the Congress—lost against the NDPP candidate by a margin of more than 1,70,000 votes; but in this year’s LS polls, the support of 19 NPF MLAs saw the Congress candidate lose by a ‘mere margin of 16,344 votes’ and that “this is a better achievement than the previous LS by-poll result!” “The NDPP is confused whether this statement of Mr. Zeliang is something which the NPF party needs to be proud of since as a political party it should be taken that these statistics prove that the people have rejected the NPF party considering the margins of defeat in the two LS elections have only proven that the people prefer to support the Congress candidate (a party without a single MLA in the House) rather than the NPF candidate. “The people of the state have once again reposed their confidence on the NDPP-led PDA alliance by electing our candidates to the Lok Sabha and the Aonglenden by-elections and it is our promise to fulfil all our commitments to the people of Nagaland and reciprocate our gratitude by bringing about all round development to the state and its people,” it stated.