Nadda to sound the bugle in poll-bound Nagaland

By Payal Mehta
New Delhi [India], September 14 (ANI): BJP national president JP Nadda will be on a two-day visit to Nagaland ahead of next year’s Assembly election.
A number of programmes have been lined up for Nadda apart from holding public meetings, he will also interact with party leaders and intellectuals during his visit.
On September 15, 2022, as Nadda arrives in the state, he will be accorded a huge welcome in Dimapur. That afternoon a public meeting at Old Riphyim at Tyui Mandel, Wokha District has been organised. This is the home district of the Nagaland Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader YV Patton.
Post the public meeting, Nadda will be holding a meeting with the state office bearers right from the State to the Mandal level.
He is expected to give them a guideline on how to approach the upcoming elections which will be held in the early part of 2023.
The BJP president will also be holding a meeting separately with the BJP legislators and the sole Rajya Sabha MP of the party in Nagaland.
Nadda will call on Nagaland Chief Minister Nephiu Rio who is also the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) president along with the state leaders for a dinner meet. Both leaders will hold a discussion on firming up an alliance. Both NDPP and BJP have already announced their alliance for the state polls.
Nadda will be visiting the Baptist Church in Kohima on 16th September followed by a meeting with close to 1,800 prominent citizens/intellectuals in Dimapur.
Nadda will also be holding a meeting with the BJP core committee of the state.
This visit of the BJP national president comes at a very significant time when the BJP and the NDPP will soon be finalising the number of seats they will be contesting in next year Assembly polls
The Nagaland Chief Minister recently had visited the national capital and met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the pending Naga Accord issue.
Rio led the 11-member delegation met the Home Minister in the national capital on Monday, demanding a final solution to the decades-long pending issue ahead of next year’s polls.
Sources have said that the Centre asked the Nagaland leadership to convince the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM) to resolve the remaining issues that have led to delaying the Naga peace process.
At present, Nagaland is an Opposition-less government. In September last year, the name of the government in Nagaland was altered and the government is now called the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) consisting of NDPP, BJP, NPF and Independent MLAs.
The Congress which was ousted in 2018 in the state polls has given a call to all the likeminded parties to come together to oust the NDA government.
The election to the 60-member Assembly of Nagaland is expected to take place in February 2023.
The Nephiu Rio-led alliance ousted the Congress party in the last elections and NDPP president took oath as CM and BJP leader YV Patton took oath as Deputy Chief Minister. (ANI)