Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the State’s BJP president, Temjen Imna Along, left for New Delhi on August 19 for an emergency meeting.
A senior leader of the Nagaland unit of the BJP said the duo had been summoned by Home Minister Amit Shah. The issue of discussion is expected to be the inclusion of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) in the coalition government, leaving the State Opposition-free.
The BJP central leadership is reportedly unhappy with the political development “in the name of achieving a peaceful solution to the Naga political issue”. The issue pertains to the peace process with more than half a dozen extremist groups, including the factions of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland since mid-1997.
Mr. Rio’s Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), the BJP and a couple of independent MLAs had stitched up the People’s Democratic Alliance government in 2018. On August 16, the coalition included the NPF by “setting aside political rivalry” for the sake of the Naga peace process and renamed the coalition the Nagaland United Government.
Many within the State BJP have been critical of the inclusion of the NPF, a former ally of the saffron party before it struck a deal with the NDPP ahead of the 2018 Assembly election. The NDPP is essentially a splinter group of the NPF.
“As a BJP member, I am totally opposed to the Opposition-less government. It has nothing to do with the Naga solution, which should not be a pretext for any party or MLA to play a political game,” Benjamin Yepthomi said on a social media platform.
