NDPP would never compromise with faith, identity of Nagas: CM Rio

Three candidates are in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland that will vote on April 19.

NDPP would never compromise with the faith and identity of the Nagas, Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said on Monday.

Addressing the coordination meeting of the Peoples' Democratic Alliance (PDA), Rio said that NDPP's Chumben Murry is the ''right candidate'' for the state.

He said the Congress does not have any MLA in the state, but still fighting for the lone Lok Sabha seat harping on the ''anti-minority and anti-Christian atrocities'' of the BJP, of which ''some may be true but some are propaganda''.

He said the NDPP will always stand for the rights of the minorities and welfare of Christians. ''Nagaland is a resource crunch state and has to depend on the central government,'' he said, noting that there are also other problems, including the unresolved Naga political issue.

Stating that ''there might be some wrongdoers'', Rio said the welfare policies of the Centre are appreciable.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a very visionary leader and has always considered equal development for all.

''BJP is working to win more than 300 seats by itself and more than 400 with its partners, whereas the position of the Congress is very bad and also its INDIA bloc is not stable,'' he said.

''We have to carefully decide and send our MP to be in the majority coalition,'' he said while appealing to electors to vote for Murry.

He claimed that when the Congress was in power at the Centre, it did nothing for Nagaland.

''It stopped the funds for railway and the four-lane Dimapur-Kohima road project sanctioned by the BJP government in 2003, and also imposed President's Rule in 2008,'' he said. Three candidates are in the fray for the lone Lok Sabha seat in Nagaland that will vote on April 19. Congress has fielded S Supongmeren Jamir, while an Independent candidate, Hayithung Tungoe Lotha, is also contesting.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)