Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Tuesday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and discussed with him various issues concerning the state, that include the ongoing Naga peace process.
Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the convener of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), was present in the meeting at Amit Shah’s Parliament house office.
“Today, I met Union Home Minister Amit Shah. NEDA convener and Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present in the meeting. We discussed the Naga issue,” Rio told reporters outside Parliament.
When asked about resolving the border dispute with Assam, Rio said it will be done after the State assembly elections next year.
On Naga peace process, chief minister Rio said, “Negotiations are going on. It depends on the negotiating parties…We are hopeful.”
“We discussed about our party and alliance govt & other issues of Nagaland. We’re having elections next year. On inter-state border issue, we have full understanding & things are going smoothly,” Rio was quoted as saying by the news agency ANI.
NDPP, BJP to continue 40:20 seat sharing pact
Staff Reporter
DIMAPUR, JUL 26 (NPN): Setting to rest all political speculations , ruling alliance partners- NDPP and BJP- have reaffirmed continuance of their 2018 pre-poll seat sharing arrangement of 40 (NDPP):20 (BJP) for the forthcoming Nagaland Legislative Assembly (NLA) elections in 2023. This was disclosed in a joint communiqué issued by NDPP secretary general Abu Metha and BJP Nagaland in-charge Nalin Kohli .
They also declared that there will be “no friendly contest in any constituency” as both parties will continue seat sharing as agreed ahead of the 2018 NLA elections where NDPP had contested 40 seats and BJP 20 seats.
The signatories also informed that a core committee comprising members of both the parties will formulate the election strategy to decide the seats from where each party will set up candidates, at an appropriate time.
They also recalled that the pre-poll alliance between the two parties was formed in 2018 under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then BJP national president Amit Shah. The election campaign was launched by Modi at Tuensang on February 22, 2018 and the pre-poll alliance won the people’s mandate to form a popular government on March 8 that year, the statement added.
Both the parties asserted that the alliance had provided Nagaland with a stable government and carried out all-round accelerated development with the full-fledged support of Modi government. It was also mentioned that the State witnessed an era of economic growth with the prevalence of a peaceful environment guided by the Common Minimum Programme of the alliance.
Further, the communiqué claimed that the State government had played the role of an active facilitator in the ongoing Naga peace process, while serious efforts were being made by the State and Central governments, with the blessings of Modi and Shah towards finding a peaceful solution through the ongoing political dialogue. The signatories also added that the NDPP-BJP alliance had grown from strength to strength and continued to win the popular support in the past four years having emerged victorious in elections to Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and Assembly by-elections.
Meanwhile, chief minister Neiphiu Rio tweeted that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home minister Amit Shah, the NDPP-BJP alliance has been further strengthened.
“We remain committed to work for lasting peace & accelerated all-round dev. of the State…,” Rio stated.
Assam chief minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma also confirmed about the development after both he and chief minister Neiphiu Rio met Union Home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday.
In a tweet, Sarma said “Today Honble CM @Neiphiu_Rio and I met with Home Minister @AmitShah in his Parliament House office. Happy to share that the BJP4India and @NDPPofficial will jointly contest the forthcoming assembly elections…”
