Dimapur, July 9 NNN: Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio and his legislators, all non-Congressmen who share the ‘bitterest’ relationship with the Congress legislators in Nagaland legislative assembly, will vote for a Congressman in Pranab Mukherjee in the upcoming Presidential election.
There are two political calculations that political analysts can put at over the Naga Peoples Front (NPF) MLAs decision to vote for the Congressman.
Nagaland assembly election is due early next year and the Neiphiu Rio team is intensely focusing at that event in every thing it does.
Anything the NPF does, it has to outdo the rival Opposition party (Congress) in the state. Even in the election like the President of India, experiencing a defeat will mean a herculean damage to the party for the next assembly election as the rival Congress will score a point (election campaigns in Nagaland have started in a mild way).
Another calculation can be that (though a bit remote but anything is possible in politics), the Neiphiu Rio team may merge with the Congress party before the next assembly election so that the NPF will have smoother campaigns in the fund-starved Nagaland. This is because, public have the notion that since the government at the Centre is led by the Congress, the government led by the same party in the state can only bring funds at will.
On Saturday, during his whirlwind tour in some areas of the Northeast, Pranab Mukherjee managed to garner solid supports from the Neiphiu Rio government. Legislators from the NPF had met the UPA Presidential candidate in Dimapur assuring Mukherjee of their support.
Although Neiphiu Rio has been maintaining a good rapport with PA Sangma, he has definitely chosen his political career first than anything else. How has PA Sangma reacted?
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/rio-supports-pranab/
