No more splits in our party, says a confident Imkong, Congress leader in the Nagaland Assembly. He dismissed the possibility of a second split in the party. He claims that all the 14 Nagaland Congress members in the 60-member-Assembly remained “more firm and stronger than ever before”. The Congress received a major setback on June 27 last when seven of its members deserted the party and joined the Nagaland Peoples’ Front (NPF), after floating a new platform the Nagaland Congress, thereby reducing the 21-member Congress to 14 in the House. Regretting the recent spate of defections in the State’s political parties, the Opposition leader said it was creating instability in the otherwise peaceful political environment inherited from the previous congress rule. He alleged that following these “unwanted” political developments in the State, the banks had been emptied and even the government employees not paid their salaries on time by the present government. Mr. Imkong further criticised the “double standard” of the BJP leaders in the country, including V Satish, the BJP North-east in-charge, regarding the “politics-insurgency” nexus in the region. He alleged that Mr Satish had initiated sinister campaigns to tarnish the image of the Congress-ruled States in the region with an eye to the coming Lok Sabha elections, while ignoring the recent arrest of the private secretary to the Nagaland Transport Minister by the Assam police on charges of carrying explosives. Imkong also accused the BJP of pumping money into Nagaland to pursue their own agenda and not for the people’s interest. He sees in the recent New Delhi meeting of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio with Mizoram Chief Minister Zoramthanga and NCP general secretary P. A. Sangma a sinister attempt to discredit the Congress in the region.

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