JD-U disbands Nagaland unit after MLA, state unit chief Neiphiu Rio returns to government
Patna: The central party committee of the Janata Dal (U) on Wednesday dissolved the party’s Nagaland unit after its MLA and state unit chief pledged support to the Neiphiu Rio-led coalition government.
“The Nagaland State President of our party has given a letter of support to the Chief Minister of Nagaland without consulting the central leadership of JD-U which is high indiscipline and an arbitrary step. Hence JD-U has dissolved the state committee of the party in Nagaland with immediate effect,” JD-U’s in-charge of Northeast affairs and national general secretary Afaq Ahmed Khan said in a statement.
Nagaland JD-U President Senchumo Lotha and his party’s lone MLA Zwenga Seb met state Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on March 8. After this meeting, he submitted his letter of support to the NDPP-BJP coalition government.
Seb won the Tse Minyu seat in the recently concluded state elections, defeating his nearest rival RPI (Athawale) candidate Loguseng Semp by 2,563 votes.
JD(U) national president Rajeev Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said the party came to know about the MLA’s move on Wednesday and took immediate action.
“We came to know about the letter of support by JD-U MLA alone on Wednesday and it was done without our consent and prior information. It is highly objectionable and tantamount to high discipline. We have decided to dissolve the state unit immediately and will soon constitute a new committee.
The JD(U) president also targeted the Bharatiya Janata Party, accusing it of poaching its MLAs. “He had done the same thing earlier in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. The Nagaland MLA handed over the letter of support when the party decided not to have any alliance with the BJP,” he said.
Of the three Bihar-based parties, JD(U), RJD and LJP(R), that contested the Nagaland Assembly elections, Chirag Paswan-led LJP(R) fared well and won 2 out of 16 seats. Contested election. JD(U), which had hoped to get the status of a national party on the basis of its performance in the North-East, could win only one of the seven seats.
The JD(U) has been contesting the Nagaland elections since 2003, when it fielded candidates for 13 of the 60 seats and won three with a vote share of 5.8%. In 2008 it contested three seats and lost all; In 2013, it contested three seats and won one. In the last elections in 2018, it fielded candidates in 14 seats and won one seat, with an overall vote share of 5.49%. This year it contested seven seats and won one seat with a vote share of 3.3%.
