Claims latest political manoeuvre is ‘based on collective decisions’
Dimapur, Dec. 11 (EMN): Chief Minister TR Zeliang has asked his “good friend” Neiphiu Rio, the Lok Sabha Member of Parliament, not to take things “personally as everything that is happening is not due to my personal decisions but owing to collective decisions.”
By ‘everything that is happening’, Zeliang was referring to the latest political twist in Nagaland in the aftermath of the chief minister’s recent ‘reunion’ with Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu whom the former had ousted as the chief minister of Nagaland just this year.
On Monday, the chief minister’s office issued the copy of a letter Zeliang wrote to Rio stating to “address the factual distortions” allegedly contained in the latter’s correspondence to the chief minister on Dec. 8.
“It was not me who approached you in June this year, but an emissary, a close relative of yours, who met me several times with a proposal that you and I must work together. According to the formula, I was to canvass for a ministerial berth for you in Delhi and you would support me in the state. Subsequently, when 36 NPF MLAs, 4 BJP MLAs and 7 Independents (sic) lent their support to me, through constitutional and democratic means, I became chief minister again. This exercise was not therefore commenced by me but by you and your emissary,” the letter read.
According to Zeliang it was per Rio’s ‘demand’ that the legislators then selected him as the interim president and later, the president of the party ‘which was allegedly ratified at the general convention held on 20th September, 2017.’
Zeliang went on to state that ‘some days back’ Rio had ‘engaged in evaluation exercise by calling the NPF MLAs one by one for change of guard’ in his favour, but in vain. “At the core committee's meeting held on 28th November, 2017, when members raised the question of re-issue of party tickets to them, you rejected it on ground that the time for such a demand had not arisen.
“You had also unilaterally rejected the call of Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu for reconciliation without consulting me or your colleagues. It is a public fact that you are the architect of NDPP, but you have neither dissociated from NDPP nor from NPF, thereby creating confusion amongst our followers,” it further read.
Around 28 legislators, according to Zeliang, then came to him with the suggestion to reconcile with Liezietsu ‘since protection of the party's cock symbol from being frozen was the foremost electoral imperative.’ Thus, on Dec. 8 the memorandum of reconciliation was signed between the chief minister and Liezietsu, it stated.
“This reconciliation also acquires utmost relevance when all Nagas are longing for early solution well before the elections...as a leader, I consider it my bounden duty to salvage the future of the party and its members.”
Memorandum of reconciliation
According to the ‘memorandum of reconciliation’, the once warring NPF groups would patch up “in order to provide stability to the polity in Nagaland and with a view to strengthening unity in the party”.
The terms and conditions to the signing of this ‘memorandum of reconciliation’ would require Liezietsu to declare “publicly and consistently to the people of Nagaland and more particularly to the electorate” that Zeliang would be the NPF’s chief ministerial candidate for the coming state assembly elections. He will also revoke the suspension and expulsion of all NPF legislators, NPF leaders and workers belonging to the chief minister's group; issue NPF tickets to all the sitting MLAs of both the groups in the party; reorganise the NPF office bearers of the assembly constituencies/divisional units of the MLAs of chief minister's group; reconstitute the working committee on the advice of the chief minister; and accommodate those CEC and COB members who accept the party principle and join in pursuance of this reconciliation process.
Conversely, the chief minister and the legislators supporting him will ‘accept and acknowledge the legitimacy’ of Liezietsu’s position as the president of the NPF. “The legislators and the party officials belonging to TR Zeliang group shall take all necessary steps to nullify their actions and execute necessary counter affidavits and paper works for early resolution of the party dispute in the ECI,” the document read.
The ‘memorandum’ was signed in the presence of three NPF legislators each from both the groups.
