Rio summons cabinet meet on Jan 3 to discuss poll abstention by ENPO

Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio has convened a cabinet meeting on January 3 to deliberate on Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation’s (ENPO) August 26, 2022 resolution– to not take part in any election until its demand for Frontier Nagaland was met.
Talking to media persons on the sideline of a programme at Reiphinyü Badze here on Friday, Rio said he has called for a cabinet meeting to discuss about ENPO’s decision to abstain from taking part in the Assembly polls scheduled to be held in February 2023.
It may be mentioned that Central Executive Council (CEC) of ENPO reaffirmed to stick by the August 26, 2022 resolution of “not taking part in any election process of the Central and State until and unless a separate Statehood – Frontier Nagaland – is granted by the Government of India, as demanded by the people of Eastern Nagaland.”
Rio had recently said that the ultimate decision on ENPO’s demand now depended on Union Home ministry and hoped that “some decision” would be taken.
It may be noted that the ENPO delegation is likely to hold another round of meeting in Delhi during the first week of January 2023.
The organization has reaffirmed to stick to its August 26, 2022 resolution.
On whether Assembly election would be held as per schedule, the chief minister mentioned that if there was no solution to the Naga political issue, the polls would be held.
He said since all the 60 legislators had come together in support of a solution to the Naga political issue, they were hopeful that the issue would be resolved.
Rio disclosed that the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had called him on Thursday, informing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was supposed to visit Nagaland. However, due to the unfortunate demise of his mother Heeraben Modi, the visit had been delayed. He hoped that Modi would visit the State later.
Asked about State’s preparedness vis-à-vis Covid-19, he claimed that situation in Nagaland was under control, adding that Covid was not over yet. He also appealed to everyone not to be complacent, be on guard and not to be alarmed.