Prez Rule in Nagaland
DAN weighs legal option:
Kohima, Jan. 4: The Neiphiu Rio-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland geared up for a legal battle with Delhi a day after losing the political one that culminated in President’s rule being clamped on the state.
Rio said the coalition partners, led by his Nagaland People’s Front, were consulting legal experts to move court against the “murder of democracy”.
“We will seek justice from the court,” he said, projecting his government as a political martyr.
Governor K Sankaranarayanan tried his best to calm a state that would have least expected to become a candidate for central rule just before Assembly elections.
He assured Nagas of a transparent and accountable administration with focus on health, education, rural development, better fiscal management, public grievances and improvement of the public distribution system.
In a statement, he said the need of the hour was to deliver better governance and services to the people. He urged civilian government employees, the police and army to play their defined roles in achieving this objective.
The governor also appealed for peace to be maintained in the run-up to elections.
Sankaranarayanan had a meeting with senior bureaucrats in the evening to say that he expected transparency in all official matters.
“This is an excellent opportunity and a great challenge for government servants to prove to the people at large that they can deliver the goods,” he said.
An unconvinced Rio said Delhi had suppressed the rights of the Naga people and that his coalition, backed by the BJP, would give a befitting reply in the elections.
The NPF chief convened a meeting of leaders of the alliance at his Kohima residence in the morning. He said the Nagas needed to remember that the erstwhile BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government in Delhi announced an economic package for the state and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance gave it a “PR (President’s rule) package”.
He pinned the blame for political uncertainty and the fourth stint of central rule in Nagaland on leaders of the Congress’s state unit.
The Congress claimed it never demanded central rule. Legislator Medokul Sophie, the secretary of administration in the Nagaland PCC, said the Congress merely campaigned for the dismissal of the Rio government and an alternative political set-up after the December 13 no-confidence motion ended in a farce.
The Rio government would have lost the no-confidence vote had Speaker Kiyanielie Peseyie not barred three Independent MLAs from voting on the motion and declared invalid the votes of nine dissident NPF legislators for defying a party whip.
Sophie said now that the President had decreed central rule, the Congress had no choice but to “accept the verdict”.
For Rio, the one positive development was Naga organisations joining the coalition in opposing central rule.
The Naga Hoho, the Naga Students’ Federation and the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights said central rule would most certainly affect the ongoing peace process with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).
Posted On: The Telegraph
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Kohima, Jan. 4: The Neiphiu Rio-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland geared up for a legal battle with Delhi a day after losing the political one that culminated in President’s rule being clamped on the state.
Rio said the coalition partners, led by his Nagaland People’s Front, were consulting legal experts to move court against the “murder of democracy”.
“We will seek justice from the court,” he said, projecting his government as a political martyr.
Governor K Sankaranarayanan tried his best to calm a state that would have least expected to become a candidate for central rule just before Assembly elections.
He assured Nagas of a transparent and accountable administration with focus on health, education, rural development, better fiscal management, public grievances and improvement of the public distribution system.
In a statement, he said the need of the hour was to deliver better governance and services to the people. He urged civilian government employees, the police and army to play their defined roles in achieving this objective.
The governor also appealed for peace to be maintained in the run-up to elections.
Sankaranarayanan had a meeting with senior bureaucrats in the evening to say that he expected transparency in all official matters.
“This is an excellent opportunity and a great challenge for government servants to prove to the people at large that they can deliver the goods,” he said.
An unconvinced Rio said Delhi had suppressed the rights of the Naga people and that his coalition, backed by the BJP, would give a befitting reply in the elections.
The NPF chief convened a meeting of leaders of the alliance at his Kohima residence in the morning. He said the Nagas needed to remember that the erstwhile BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government in Delhi announced an economic package for the state and the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance gave it a “PR (President’s rule) package”.
He pinned the blame for political uncertainty and the fourth stint of central rule in Nagaland on leaders of the Congress’s state unit.
The Congress claimed it never demanded central rule. Legislator Medokul Sophie, the secretary of administration in the Nagaland PCC, said the Congress merely campaigned for the dismissal of the Rio government and an alternative political set-up after the December 13 no-confidence motion ended in a farce.
The Rio government would have lost the no-confidence vote had Speaker Kiyanielie Peseyie not barred three Independent MLAs from voting on the motion and declared invalid the votes of nine dissident NPF legislators for defying a party whip.
Sophie said now that the President had decreed central rule, the Congress had no choice but to “accept the verdict”.
For Rio, the one positive development was Naga organisations joining the coalition in opposing central rule.
The Naga Hoho, the Naga Students’ Federation and the Naga People’s Movement for Human Rights said central rule would most certainly affect the ongoing peace process with the NSCN (Isak-Muivah).
Posted On: The Telegraph
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