Acharya says Swaraj Kaushal has no idea of NE

MUMBAI, JULY 27: The BJP's national secretary in charge of the north eastern states, Padmanabh Acharya today said Swaraj Kaushal has litt...

MUMBAI, JULY 27: The BJP’s national secretary in charge of the north eastern states, Padmanabh Acharya today said Swaraj Kaushal has little grasp of Nagaland’s ground realities, and exceeded his brief when he agreed with the Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (IM) leadership about the ceasefire in Nagaland.

In a statement issued in Mumbai, Acharya said Kaushal (who happens to be the husband of former union minister and BJP leader Sushma Swaraj) was only a `interlocutor’, but had conducted himself as if he was the Government itself.

Acharya said he was with the Prime Minister on May 20-21 during his visit to Manipur and Mizoram, when the PM clearly declared that the ceasefire was applicable only to Nagaland and not the other states or groups. Acharya wondered how Kaushal had gone ahead to declare and agree with the NSCN (IM) leadership that the ceasefire was without boundaries or territorial limits.

Not only were the consequences of this declaration largely detrimental to national interest and the peace process, but had also provoked an unjustified outburst against the Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Kaushal is reported to have said that the “PM had no respect for his word” and “no perception of the problems of the North-East.”

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