What the "party with a difference" will do with its 'Twitter-friendly' Minister ?
Congress party is silent at a time when a BJP leader is cornered
New Delhi
The taste of the pudding or Naga Galho dish is in its eating. Politics is certainly more than the Twitter jokes.
And it's also bitter.
Nagaland's most trouble-making party for all its detractors - the Rising People’s Party (RPP) has said it was “imperative” that the Rio-led government take cognizance of a legal case related to Higher Education Minister Temjen Imna Along and drop him from the council of ministers.
Rio will not be doing so, I suppose. No one does such a cruel thing to a loyalist.
The BJP's progress or stagnancy ever since Temjen had become Nagaland BJP president is known to a political shrewd operator Neiphiu Rio too well.
The onus is actually now on the "party with a difference". We do not expect any strong actions from state BJP leadership either. The Chingwang Konyak-led outfit knows all that pretty well.
Hence, the onus is on the BJP high command. But a leadership which readily handed over 20:40 seat sharing formula to Chingwang's party will hardly bother if its minister in office is faced with an adverse legal battle.
In its press release, the RPP said it was “most galling” that the minister (Temjen) had termed as “normal business dispute” a very serious fraud case for which he could be jailed.
The RPP claims that Imna Along’s case involving Rs.125 crore had made national headlines, but his “utterance has trivialized” cheating and fraud, which it described as “condemnable".
Where's the moral force of the slogan - "Na Khaoonga ... etc etc" ?
(We will not indulge into any shady financial deals nor allow anyone do so).
The Special Task Force (#STF) of Mumbai Police's Economic Offences Wing (EOW) informed Bombay High Court recently that it has initiated a Preliminary Enquiry against Temjen Along. The Shiv Sena-BJP government is in power in the western state and hence the usual "political vendetta" excuse too cannot work.
According to Hazel Mercantile Limited, between 2015 and 2018, when Along did not hold any public office, he had approached the company to invest in Nagaland.
Subsequently, on April 21, 2015, an MoU was signed, under which the company invested approximately Rs 125 crore. The MoU also included construction contracts and agreements for the supply of rice and sugar.
However, the company alleged that after fulfilling all supply commitments and raising invoices, Along began avoiding contact with their representatives, according to reports in national media.
These do not fit into the definition of 'business disputes'.
Other political parties are seeing the fun from a safe distance. The NDPP and the Congress may or may not issue any statement.
Analysts are enjoying the fact that the Congress party is silent this time when a BJP Minister is at the receiving end.
One need not push the NPF yet again to make noise on the issue for India's second oldest regional party should focus more on the agenda of Solution and Peace.
In 2013, the then Nagaland Home Minister Imkong L Imchen had resigned after he was found with cash and that violated election rules. In circa 2024, the BJP wants a 'jailed Chief Minister' Arvind Kejriwal to quit.
Long back, the richest American John D. Rockefeller had said, "Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great".
ends
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