Kohima: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said he would continue to lend voice to Naga people’s aspirations and was even prepared to go to jail for their sake.
Rio was reacting to allegations by the Manipur cabinet that his election campaign speeches preached hatred and to a threat by a Manipur advocate that he could be sentenced to five years in prison for espousing the Naga cause.
Campaigning in Nagaland’s interior districts of Longleng, Phek and Kiphire, Rio said on Monday, “I am speaking for the right of the Naga people and for that why should any body threaten to jail me? If I am to go to jail for the sake of my people, so be it.”
He said his party Naga People’s Front had always stood for the rights of Nagas and the party leadership has voiced the plight of the Nagas, especially those in Myanmar.
NPF is the only party in the state which has fielded candidates in all 60 seats which will go to poll on February 23. (PTI)