Rio’s statement ‘anti-constitutional’: NPCC

Dimapur, March 22 : The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) has taken serious note of the Chief Minister’s press statement, terming it “highly anti-constitutional”. “By stating that Nagaland cannot compete with the mighty India, he makes no secret of his strong anti-Centre govt. and design to alienate the Nagas from the mainstream politics. He may be rightly branded as the ‘Varun Gandhi’ of the east for his bizarre anti-constitutional statement,” stated a press note issued by the NPCC Media Cell.

The NPCC also reiterated on what it described as the “fear expressed by Chief Minister N. Rio that the Congress party would impose monetary and military power in the ensuing elections” pointing out that this is Rio’s pre-conceived self-confessional statement. “Because the people of Nagaland know very well that the DAN govt. did exactly that in 2003 and 2008 elections. With all the State machinery under its control it is totally absurd to even imagine that the State Congress party has the means to take over the State machinery,” the press note issued by Media Cell Member Dr. K Hoshi stated.

On the recent development in Meghalaya, the NPCC observed that it was not surprising to learn about the comments made by Rio supporting the action of the Meghalaya Assembly Speaker’s action. The NPCC stated that Rio was the “tutor”. “There’s no doubt that the Meghalaya Speaker had taken the precedence of his counterpart in Nagaland. What happened in Meghalaya is a copycat of 13 December 2007 episode in Nagaland,” the NPCC stated. Pointing out that Rio’s “open support for Meghalaya Speaker’s action” amounted to “contempt of Court” as the Gauhati High Court had given its ruling condemning the Nagaland Speaker’s action as ‘illegal and unconstitutional’.

On the development front, the NPCC stated that the DAN government had nothing more to claim as all development activities had come to a “standstill” with the government unable to pay its employees for the month of February till date. “The corruption charges of the State’s Congress against the DAN govt. have been vindicated by the CAG report in local dailies day after day and scam after scams that are plaguing the DAN Govt,” the NPCC alleged.

The NPCC also stated that the press statement issued by Shilumar Ao, Associate Press Secretary of NPF, was not only “irresponsible and childish” but also an attempt to divert the people from the real issue of public importance raised by NPCC in its response to the statement of the Chief Minister. “The NPF has the compulsive habit of venting its anger and frustration through character assassination,” the NPCC added.