Dimapur, March 19: Dogged by disagreements over plum portfolios, the multi-party Democratic Alliance of Nagaland, headed by chief minister Neiphiu Rio, will find itself on shaky ground if it does not quickly fulfil the promises it had made to the people.
During election campaign, both the Nagaland People’s Front and the BJP projected the coalition as pro-Naga peace talks, which could deliver the Naga people “from the yoke of the anti-Naga Congress, led by S.C. Jamir”.
Now that the coalition is in power, the heat is on DAN to display some visible signs of progress on two crucial fronts — the NPF and the BJP, facing travel curbs from the NSCN (Khaplang), must quickly shake off its image as being anti-Khaplang as alleged by the outfit and also demonstrate that it is making some effort to unite the warring Naga groups.
Observers said the coalition must do more, as there was relative peace in the Jamir era as a result of the ceasefire. Especially so, because it had vilified the previous Congress government as a spoiled cog in the wheels of the Naga peace process.
In the spheres of public finance and development, the ruling coalition cannot escape from head to head evaluation of its performance with that of the previous government under S.C. Jamir.
During Jamir’s last five years, the government had avoided landing into overdraft and paid the salaries of the state’s one lakh employees on time even if it meant diverting or slashing development funds. The ruling coalition became heir to a government in the red, gripped by the overdraft in the first week of March.