Iran News on BJP Nagaland Victory

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Coalition govt. led by NPF and BJP sworn-in India's Nagaland

 

Guwahati, March 6, IRNA -- A 29-member coalition government led

by

the Nagaland People's Front (NPF) and the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)

was sworn-in Thursday in India's predominantly Christian northeastern

state of Nagaland.

Nagaland Governor Shyamal Datta administered the oaths of office

and secrecy to the new chief minister Neiphiu Rio and 28 other

ministers in state capital Kohima.

Four political parties have joined hands with the NPF to form the

Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN), which has 38 legislators in

the 60-member assembly, elections to which were held on February 26.

The DAN includes 19 NPF legislators, six Bhartiya Janata Party

(BJP), three from the Janata Dal (United), five belonging to the

Nagaland Democratic Movement (NDM), one Samata Party, besides four

independents.

Among those who were sworn-in includes four from the BJP, all

cabinet ministers.

The Congress that ruled the state for the past one decade emerged

as the single largest party in the polls winning 21 seats.

This is the first time that Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari

Vajpayee's BJP had managed to win any elections in Nagaland, a state

with more than 90 percent Christian following - a significant

political inroad made by the Hindu nationalist party.

The 53-year-old chief minister, who was formerly Home Minister

during the outgoing Congress-ruled government in Nagaland, severed

ties with the party to join the NPF a few months before the elections.

"We would strive hard to achieve a political solution the Naga

insurgency problem and that would be possible by uniting all Naga

groups," the chief minister told IRNA by telephone soon after the

swearing-in ceremony.

The state has been wracked by more than five decades of tribal

insurgency with two rival factions of the National Socialist Council

of Nagaland (NSCN) unleashing a reign of terror. The two NSCN

factions are currently operating a ceasefire with New Delhi.

The victory of the BJP is largely attributed to the peace talks

held between the federal government and leaders of the Isak-Muivah

faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in

January.

SF/RR

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