NDPP hits back at NPCC; terms attack on CM as ‘cheap pot shots’

Dimapur, June 19 (EMN): The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) on Friday expressed bemusement at the Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee’s (NPCC) public attack on the chief minister of the state for presenting the current financial position of the State government to the people, stating that he, as the Finance in-charge was discharging his duties and responsibilities by regularly bringing to the attention of the people the financial condition.

The statement from the NDPP came a few days after the Congress party took a pot shot at Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio over his briefing about the state’s grim financial position in the wake of Covid-19 crisis at a press conference, saying that he should have instilled confidence on the people instead.

However, the NDPP stated that it displayed CM’s “sincerity in running a transparent government accountable to the people with the belief that the people of the state have the right to know the current financial position of the government they have mandated apart from all other government-related activities”. It said that it was unbecoming of the Congress to attack the head of the state while he was “dutifully serving the State by discharging his duties”.

While reminding that no nation, including the United States and India, is free from the burdens of a deficit economy, the NDPP said that using Covid-19 crisis to attack the CM “on the States deficit and economy is nothing less than hitting below the belt when the entire State machinery is tirelessly fighting this global pandemic on a war footing”. It also alleged that the state faced “rampant corruption with the economy in doldrums” under the leadership of the NPCC in the past.

“The State government should in fact be commended for trying its best to provide maximum with the minimum it has at its disposal. It is a well-known fact that 70% of the State’s finances goes into the paying of salaries and pensions. Nagaland is a salaried economy without having much source of income to supplement the huge percentage of funds going to its employees,” the statement read, adding that any government would struggle to bring development with the meagre 30% of the funds.

The party stated that the PDA government is doing its best to serve the people and that “vast improvement in the roads and other infrastructure” are testaments of its commitment. It went on to say that the Indian government gave INR 365 crore to Nagaland state to clear “accumulated deficit carried over from the Congress ministry in 2003” when the current NPCC president K Therie was the Finance minister. “His handling of this grant and his management of the state’s finances was out rightly rejected by the then opposition Congress who had demanded a white paper on the (INR) 365 crore,” it claimed, and for which he was dropped from the ministry.

“May it be reminded that members of the Covid working committee are giving daily updates on the status of the pandemic in the State and therefore, to accuse the chief minister for failing to ‘instil confidence in the people’ is nothing but taking cheap pot shots at the Hon’ble Chief Minister which is unbecoming of a political party in the stature of the NPCC,” the statement read.

The party went on to state that the NPCC should refrain from taking advantage of the current global pandemic to make personal attacks. “Rather, this is in fact a time for everyone to come together and share views and opinions on how best to build our economy and emerge victorious from the havoc caused by the global pandemic of Covid-19,” it added.