CMO defends Dr. Shürhozelie

Reacting to NPCC’s attack on the chief minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) through its media cell on Friday said that if Dr Shürhozelie has now become the chief minister it was because of constitutional provisions and parliamentary procedures, and not through backdoor or front door, as alleged by the Congress party.
In a press release, CMO media cell said that going by the logic put forth by the Congress party that the party president became the chief minister by “default”, it would appear that the Congress party has been made redundant in today’s context by “their fault” and not anybody else’s fault as all its legislators and senior leaders parted ways with it leaving a few rejects to man the organization.
Reminding how Dr. Manmohan Singh became the union finance minister in 1991 when he had to be hurriedly elected from Assam as a Rajya Sabha member and how late PV Narasimha Rao became the Prime Minister without being a member of either House of Parliament, the CMO asked “Or is it that the NPCC considers the first Congress Government headed by someone outside the Nehru-Gandhi family in the country as a ‘backdoor’ Government all these decades?”
But then, the CMO said the Congress party seemed to have selective amnesia when it comes to its own history, or the heinous acts committed during its regimes such as the Anti-Sikh Riots of 1984 and the Emergency declared in 1975.
On the allegation that Dr Shürhozelie “ditched” his party in 1999 to contest the parliamentary elections, CMO said “this clearly shows the selective amnesia of the Congress party.”
It reminded of the general elections in 1998 when the Congress, despite the call of the people not to hold or participate in general elections, went ahead to file nomination papers in most of the Constituencies and were declared uncontested.
As a result of not participating in the 1998 elections for the sake of the Naga peace process, the CMO said the Election Commission of India “froze” the party symbol of the NPF (then NPC).
And to salvage the regional party and regain its party symbol, CMO said Dr. Shürhozelie made the “supreme sacrifice” of contesting as an Independent candidate against the ruling Congress Candidate  knowing very well that the chances of winning were very slim. It said Dr Shürhozelie secured 1, 62, 521 votes and could redeem the party symbol.
Alleging that the treachery perpetrated by the Congress party on the Naga people in 1998 remained fresh in the minds of the Naga people, the CMO said if it had paid heed to the clarion call of the Naga people then, the Naga political problem might have been given more importance by the Government of India earlier. Perhaps, the CMO added that Congress party might not have been pushed to the political oblivion it is in now, especially in Nagaland.
Further, CMO said that Congress party knew best how it was to have communal or secular masters in Delhi since its High Command was based there. It said that the Congress leaders might like to show Nagas how they have learned to bow before its High Command at Delhi.
CMO media cell said as far as the NPF party and NPF-led DAN government, the people were its high command and the party and the government was answerable to the people.