Reacting to a case filed against the minister for higher education Temjen Imna Along in the Bombay High Court, the Rising People’s Party (RPP) has said it was “imperative” that the Rio-led government take cognizance and drop him from the council of ministers.
In a press release, RPP said it was “most galling” that the minister had termed as “normal business dispute” a very serious fraud case for which he could be jailed. RPP claimed that Imna Along’s fraud case involving Rs.125 crore had made national headlines, but his “utterance has trivialized” cheating and fraud, which it described was “condemnable.”
The party also stated that the “stupendous silence” of the BJP Nagaland state showed their double standard. Reminding the state BJP of the Narendra Modi government’s call for a “Corruption-free India”, the RPP asserted that the State BJP, in order to justify the slogan, should have been the first to advise chief minister Rio to drop their minister.
The party maintained that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) attaching the properties of two Naga contractors involved in construction of the new Kohima High Court complex “though laudable” was most overdue.
For the first time, RPP said the ED took cognizance of corruption in the state and the citizens of Nagaland had welcomed the “news with jubilation.”
In this regard, RPP requested ED to carry the case involving 10 PWD Engineers and six contractors to its logical conclusion.
Further, the party urged the chief minister to give persecution sanction to the CBI with regard to the involvement of 10 PWD state officials in the new High Court complex case without further delay. RPP stated that along with the six contractors, the 10 odd officers were implicated by the CBI. However, the refusal to give prosecution sanction by Rio’s government gave the impression that the politicians fear implication as well. “However, the long arm of the law cannot be evaded and that the Kohima High Court bench has been forced to intervene means that the conscientious people of the state can breathe a sigh of relief,” RPP stated.