DIMAPUR, March 28 � Nagaland Chief Minister and ruling Naga People�s Front candidate for Lok Sabha elections Neiphiu Rio aims to play a bigger role at the national politics keeping in mind solution to the decades-old Naga political problem as the core issue. He also plans to raise the issues plaguing the North East region in Parliament as a whole, if elected.
Kicking off the NPF poll campaign for Lok Sabha elections at Dimapur District Sports Complex ground here, Rio noted that Naga political problem is the mother of all insurgencies of the North East and felt that if the decades-old Naga problem could be resolved, the insurgency problems in entire the entire region will follow suit.
�What I could not do as the Chief Minister of Nagaland, I believe I will be able to resolve this issue as a Member of Parliament,� Rio said. He reiterated that he would try to find the solution by acting as a facilitator.
�If I am elected, I can push for the solution of the political problem,� Rio said. �Naga movement is the mother of all insurgency problems in the North-East. So, if you resolve it, you can resolve the others,� he felt.
Rio is the consensus candidate of Democratic Alliance of Nagaland of which NPF is the major partner. Besides NPF, the DAN consists of JD(U), BJP and NCP. Nagaland will go to polls on April 9.
Rio is optimistic that he will be elected to the Lok Sabha with a very big margin.
His confidence to help resolve the issues of North East is boosted by BJP National Vice President and Lok Sabha MP Bijoya Chakrabarty�s revelation that she spoke BJP�s prime ministerial candidate Narendar Modi who assured her that Rio would find a �good position� in the NDA cabinet if it comes to power at the Centre.
Addressing the rally, Chakrabarty alleged that the UPA I and II failed to offer anything for development of Nagaland in the last 10 years of its rule while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not visit the State even once during the period.
�If Rio is given a portfolio in the NDA cabinet, the Nagas may well witness the long-cherished dream of solution (of the political problem). I say this because the NDA had tried to handle the problem with all sincerity and seriousness,� said Chuba Ozukum, president of Nagaland�s apex social organisation Naga Hoho.
The NPF is equally excited. �Rio is sacrificing chief ministership because he knows this is a golden opportunity to resolve the problem,� an NPF leader, who did not wish to be named, said.
North East Regional Parties Front (NERPF) co-convener and AGP�s Atul Bora also addressed the rally.
