Mallikarjun Kharge in Nagaland: Alliance govt to come to power in 2024, Congress to lead
Amid renewed calls for unity among Opposition parties ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in 2024, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Tuesday set the ball rolling and claimed that an alliance led by the grand old party will come to power at the Centre after the general elections.
“An alliance government will come to power at the Centre in 2024. The Congress will lead,” Kharge said, adding that it is in talks with other parties and the issue will be discussed in detail at the party’s plenary in Chhattishgarh’s Raipur in three days from now.
Kharge was addressing a rally in poll-bound Nagaland a day after Union Home Minister Amit Shah assured that issues raised by Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO) will be addressed after the upcoming elections. The Congress president promised several measures for the eastern Nagaland region.
The ENPO, an umbrella organisation of seven tribes, are seeking a separate state of Frontier Nagaland carved out of six districts of the state.
Speaking at an election rally in Chumukedima in Nagaland, Kharge also lashed out at the BJP accusing it of “looting” the state.
“For the last 20 years Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), Naga People’s Front (NPF) and BJP looted Nagaland. It’s high time that the people get justice and a government that works for the people. Congress Party promises several measures for the eastern Nagaland region,” Kharge said.
‘You are not an autocrat’: Kharge
Kharge also lashed out at the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that he should not behave like an “autocrat and dictator” and that “people will teach him a lesson in the 2024 (polls)”.
He further accused the BJP of toppling elected governments in the state of Karnataka, Manipur, Goa, and Madhya Pradesh by pressuring the MLAs.
“On one side, you talk about democracy and the Constitution. And on the other hand, all your acts are undemocratic. You are not following the Constitution. And you are not going according to democratic principles. Modi has several times said ‘I am the only man who can face the country (and that) no other people can touch me’ … he says it proudly,” Kharge said.
No democratic man can talk like that. You should remember that you are in a democracy. You are not an autocrat, you are not a dictator. You are elected by people and people will teach you a lesson in 2024,” he added.
Kharge’s comments come days after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said that he was waiting for a signal from the Congress party to bring the Opposition together.
Among the party’s promises, Kharge said that if the Congress is voted to power in the February 27 election, it will guarantee old age pension of Rs 3,000 per month, 33 per cent reservation for women in urban local bodies, payment of 100 per cent wages under MNREGA to job card holders, loans for higher education at zero interest, clean drinking water and sanitation.
Kharge was addressing a meeting on the day when Shah was also speaking at an election rally in Tuensang, a town in the northeastern part of Nagaland.
AFSPA to be repealed in 3-4 years: Amit Shah
Shah said that he is hopeful that the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) will be removed across Nagaland in the next three-four years. His comments come in the backdrop of the killings in Oting, in Mon district of Nagaland in December 2021 when a botched army operation had claimed 14 lives in a case of mistaken identity.
Calls for repeal of the draconian AFSPA act intensified in Nagaland and the entire northeast India following the killings.
Election to the 60-member Nagaland Assembly will be held on February 27 and the counting will be on March 2.
The BJP came to power for the first time in the Christian-majority state in 2018 in alliance with the NDPP. Both the parties are contesting together on the same seat-sharing formula, with BJP fighting in 20 seats, and NDPP in 40.
Incumbent Chief Minister and NDPP leader Neiphui Rio is the CM face of the alliance.
