NAGALAND Chief Minister T.R. Zeliang belonging to the Naga People’s Front which is in the NDA is at war with a dissident group in the Front. Although it is an internal matter, the crisis has come to a head and Zeliang has asked for a floor test in the Assembly on January 20. It has been alleged that Rs. 78.66 crore has been transferred by a person based in Singapore to the bank account of the Chief Minister and his wife. The money is said to be utilized to lure MLAs and party workers. Zeliang has dismissed the charge as a statement of desperation by the dissident group led by suspended minister G. Kaito Aye and Noke Wangneo, president of the faction. The two dissident leaders claim to have details of phone calls between the Chief Minister and the individual in Singapore. Enormous amounts of black money are said to be changing hands through multinational companies and are being deposited in foreign banks. The splinter group apparently has documents in its possession about international money transfer to Zeliang and his wife.
The dissidents demand immediate removal of the Chief Minister on the grounds that he has no moral authority to continue. Zeliang says that the dissidents are merely out to malign him and has welcomed an investigation into the accounts in question. He has also rejected the allegation that ministers and MLAs have been holed up in a hotel room in Kohima. Whatever happens in the Assembly tomorrow, it is a bad augury. Corruption is seething in all parts of India. The Saradha scam has destabilized Assam. It is now Nagaland’s turn and the Chief Minister himself is the target of accusations. Nagaland is bedeviled by insurgency with the NSCN (IM) led by T. Muivah continuing to deadlock talks with the Centre. If the government in Kohima is rocked by dissensions, the militants will take advantage of it to the detriment of national interests.
