Zeliang, Rio & NPF Central team meet Governor separately
Raj Bhavan on Saturday was the venue where rival NPF supporters of chief minster Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu and T.R. Zeliang met the Governor P.B. Acharya separately to appraise him of the ongoing political situation in the party. It was learnt that in the meetings held behind closed doors with rival NPF groups, the Governor urged upon them to reconcile their differences in the interest of the public of the state. The dissidents led by its leader T.R. Zeliang and Lok Sabha MP, Neiphiu Rio along with 43 legislators (36 NPF and 7 Independents) met the Governor in the afternoon.
Meanwhile, in a press note issued by press secretary to T.R. Zeliang (DAN chairman and leaders of the NPF legislature party), Azeu Namcyn Hau, the delegation urged upon the Governor to uphold the Constitution as “abnormal functioning style of chief minister was totally unacceptable.” The note informed that the Governor admitted that “prima facie” he was convinced that T.R. Zeliang had clear majority.
Acharya reportedly told the delegation that “any chief minister is fine with me provided he has majority support”. He also asked legislators not to break the BJP-NPF alliance for stability and development.
Zeliang urged upon Acharya to uphold the spirit of majority rule as per the Constitution and to ask the minority government under Dr. Shürhozelie to step down instead of taking the fight legally in order to cling to power. The press note informed that Zeliang appealed to the Governor to direct the chief secretary not to issue any appointments or payments besides (except) salaries under the state government. He described the termination of appointments of MLAs to various posts, withdrawal of allotment of bungalows and security cover and asking legislators to vacate the official bungalows within a week as “unbecoming of a leader”.
He also maintained that the act of removal of independent MLAs as parliamentary secretaries could not be termed as internal crisis of NPF party as it only proved that the crisis involved DAN government.
Zeliang also accused Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu of violating the Election Model Code of Conduct, which has been in force since June 29, by dismissing ministers, parliamentary secretaries, advisors and chairmen. While being a candidate for the by-election, Zeliang said such actions on the part of Dr. Liezietsu amounted to influencing his own election and blatantly violating the model code of conduct.
Neiphiu Rio accused Dr. Shürhozelie of a “dictatorial and autocratic attitude” and said he cannot run a “minority government and keep on taking policy decisions almost every day.”
Rio also said the reconciliation in the party was “pick and choose” practiced by Liezietsu during 2014, 2015 and 2016. He said these indicated that Dr. Shürhozelie “does not want to reconcile with anybody, not in the interest of the party or in the interest of the Naga people.”
Rio termed the revocation of his suspension as a “mockery” and an eyewash since the public did not know the inside story. Rio blamed Dr. Shürhozelie as responsible for the present situation and wondered what was meant by reconciliation when Dr Shürhozelie his supporters organised rallies at Kohima and Chumukedima against the dissidents on Friday by “holding placards with insulting contents.”
Others who spoke at the meeting included Imkong L. Imchen and Tokheho Yepthomi.
NPF Central team also met the Governor Saturday evening and apprised the latter about the reconciliation process initiated by the party. NPF spokesperson Achumbemo Kikon said he had impressed upon the Governor that the party has put all effort to bring the leaders together since the current issue was an internal party matter. According to Kikon, Governor supported the idea of reconciliation among the party men and told them that he will uphold the Constitution and go by the verdict of the court.
Since the matter was with the court, Kikon said that the Governor had asked all to not to issue any statements since it was sub judice.
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