Noke and Kaito-led NPF to continue ‘legitimate demand’

Principal Correspondent Kohima, February 5 Even as the 21 NPF legislators under G Kaito Aye and Noke Wangnao voted in favour of TR Zeliang government, coming out of the Assembly they asserted to continue their ‘legitimate demand’ for him to step down as the Chief Minister. Addressing a press conference at Hotel Vivor here this evening, leader of the group Kaito Aye reiterated that the present political crisis is only an internal matter of the NPF. He said that the intention of the group was never to over through the DAN government or to merge with any other political parties but only to change the leadership. Therefore, he said the matter is now with the Election Commission for authorizing the use of party symbol (cock) and “we will continue with our demand till such time it is achieved”. “The question of removing the DAN government or going against our own party did not arise”, he explained while also expressing that there was never any need to call this special or emergent session of the assembly as an internal matter of a political party does not need the calling of an assembly session. He alleged that the ‘minority’ leader (TR Zeliang) was keen to call this session so that he could garner the support of other political parties despite losing the confidence of his own party. “We congratulate him for managing to bring in non-DAN members into the NPF fold as Congress also voted for the NPF-led DAN government,” Kaito sarcastically said. He however alleged that the eight months TR Zeliang’s leadership has been worthless as he has not been able to make any public statement on the prime issue of the Naga people, which is the resolution of the Naga political problem while he has also failed in other development fronts. Kaito therefore claimed that once the matter of the “original NPF party is resolved with and the majority government installed, we will work to resolve the problems of the Naga people”. Noke and Kaito led-NPF also issued press statement 1. The NPF under the leadership of Noke Wangnao and G. Kaito Aye unanimously voted in favour of the confidence motion because from the very first day we have been saying that we are not against the party nor are we against the DAN Government. We have only called for a change of leadership as we have lost confidence in the leadership of minority chief minister T.R. Zeliang. We will never vote out the DAN Government, because we respect the mandate of the people and we will never let down our people. Today our vote was a vote in favour of the DAN Government and in favour of the NPF party, but it was not a vote for the leadership of T.R. Zeliang. 2. Our opposition to the leadership of T.R. Zeliang continues and we will continue our legitimate demand for him to step down as the Chief Minister. The reasons why we are opposing the leadership have been highlighted time and again and he has failed to respond in any convincing manner. hereunder are listed some of his major failures:- i. In about seven months under the chief ministership of T.R. Zeliang, the State has been engulfed from crisis to crisis. The CM has totally failed to provide efficient administration as development was pushed to the backseat with widespread instability and the government was made to function under the control of a few who formed a syndicate. ii. The disqualification of the three BJP MLAs has created a serious rift between the BJP led NDA Government at the Centre and the DAN Government in Nagaland. The burning of bridges between the State Government and the Centre has adversely impacted the State on all fronts. iii. Most importantly, the ongoing peace process has been totally sidelined. The role of active facilitator in the political dialogue which the DAN has been seriously pursuing no longer exists. The NPF has changed its political stand as pre-condition has been introduced in the political stand as mentioned in the presidential address during the NPF convention in November 2013. iv. In order to satisfy one and all, the chief minister started creating posts of advisers and chairmen of departments that does not exist. For example even small cells of certain departments were headed by Advisers with Cabinet status which nullified all purposes and procedures of the Rules of Executive Business and made governance a mockery. v. The feelings and wishes of the people became secondary as the government tried to bulldoze its way in order to please private companies for the selfish gains of few individuals. For example, when the students’ fraternity and civil society organizations opposed the launching of oil exploration in Wokha district, 144 CRPC was imposed, students were lathi charged and the launching programme was forcefully launched. Even in Peren district, a farcical oil exploration was launched against the wishes and desire of the people and the civil societies. vi. The allocation of oil contracts has become most controversial and there are serious allegations of corruption, kickbacks and transfer of black money. We have demanded the chief minister to order a CBI investigation but he has kept mum on this subject. vii. The DAN alliance has not functioned for the last seven months since the change of guard. In fact the spirit of the alliance was totally broken when political parties which were not part of the pre-poll alliance were suddenly included as DAN partners. Not a single DAN coordination committee meeting was called and the NPF President summoned a meeting only when the present crisis erupted. viii. Other issue includes our opposition to a weak leadership where the chief minister has become like a puppet to a syndicate of few persons. The present government was functioning under an environment where the former NPF president, Dr. Shurhozelie functioned in a dictatorial and autocratic manner. The majority view was not respected and suspensions and disqualifications became the tools to suppress the voice of the majority. ix. The minority chief minister started passing illegal orders against all laid down rules making his personal family members in-charge of government programmes and policies. For example, the CM issued orders to all government officers under Peren district to only follow the instructions of his nephews and brothers while implementing government projects. 3. The above are just some of the many failures of the minority chief minister. He has lost the mandate and confidence of his own party but has shamelessly clung on to power in the most unconstitutional manner and has shamed democracy forever. History will judge him as a leader who refused to vacate his chair despite losing the confidence and mandate of the people. 4. In 2013, the NPF won 38 seats in the assembly elections. The 2013 mandate was a record victory for the regional party and the mandate of the electorate of Nagaland was crystal clear. Today, the majority of the NPF party organisation led by 10 divisions, 44 assembly constituency units, a majority of the central office bearers, 22 MLAs and both the Members of Parliament from Nagaland have supported the move for leadership change. 5. On 12th January, 2015, a special emergency meeting of the NPF party organisation that included central office bearers, 22 MLAs, 2 MPs and the majority of CEC members unanimously resolved to remove the NPF president Dr. Shurhozelie for his dictatorial and autocratic style of functioning and unanimously elected Shri Noke Wangnao as the NPF President. Now there is a dispute that has been opened in the Election Commission of India and until the dispute is resolved Dr. Shurhozelie has been de-recognised as the NPF president. The orders of the Election Commission of India has also, through the order, nullified all orders of disciplinary action issued by the former president and has further curtailed all his powers and functions. 6. Why these issues need to be highlighted is because the present political crisis is, in fact, only an internal matter of the NPF. As we have mentioned earlier, our aim was only to change the leadership and never to change the DAN government. Therefore, the question of removing the DAN government or going against our own party did not arise. Therefore, there was never any need to call this special or emergent session of the assembly as an internal matter of a political party does not need the calling of an assembly session. Everybody, including the Honourable Governor and central leaders have accepted that today’s political crisis is only an internal problem of the NPF. 7. Perhaps, the minority leader was keen to call this session so that he could garner the support of other political parties despite losing the confidence of his own party. Since he no longer enjoyed the support of his own party, he had no option but to call a session of the House. It is indeed unfortunate that the State’s exchequer and public funds are being wasted by calling this session just so that the minority chief minister can hang on to power through promises of benefits and plump berths.