3 min readGuwahatiMar 3, 2023 09:34 AM IST
First published on: Mar 2, 2023 at 07:56 PM IST
With the BJP-Nationalist Democratic People’s Party (NDPP) alliance in a position to form the next government in Nagaland, its chief ministerial candidate Neiphiu Rio’s unbroken dominance on the state’s politics will only continue.
The alliance won 37 seats, with the BJP getting 12 seats and the NDPP getting 25, in the 60-member Assembly. Rio’s victory – with a 92.87 per cent vote share – from his stronghold Northern Angami-II was the most resounding win of them all.
His only challenger was the Congress’s Seyievelie Sachu. Rio has won every state election he contested from the constituency since 1989. He was first a Congress leader, then joined the Naga People’s Front (NPF) leader and is currently in the NDPP fold.
Now, the 72-year-old is looking ahead at his fifth term as Chief Minister of the state, having already been declared the alliance’s candidate for the position.
Rio has been the centre of all of the major twists and turns in Naga politics over the last two decades. He has in fact been the catalyst – whether it was the revolt against the Congress’s SC Jamir government or his manoeuvres after joining the NPF in 2003 which ended Jamir’s 10-year CM tenure as well as the Congress’s run in the state.
The formation of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland in 2003 — comprising the NPF, the BJP, the Janata Dal (United) and the Samata Party — to displace the Congress started the formula of a regional party in the state allying with the BJP to form a government.
During the course of campaigning for the elections, Rio was spotted with several top BJP leaders such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J P Nadda.
The BJP saw internal unrest in the run up to elections with several hopeful candidates and their supporters demanding that the 40:20 seat sharing arrangement with the NDPP be revised to increase the BJP’s share to 30.
However, the central BJP leadership went ahead with the existing arrangement. Party leaders also suggested that they would want to maintain the amicable relationship with the NDPP, particularly to continue having Rio on their side.
Rio’s relationship with the BJP has been a long and successful one – every CM term of his, first as part of the NPF and then as part of the NDPP, has been in partnership with the BJP. When he left the NPF in 2017 and joined the NDPP — formed by NPF rebels who were his supporters – the BJP too broke off with the NPF that had been their alliance partner of 15 years to join hands with the NDPP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being presented with Naga traditional attires by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio during a public rally. (PTI) 
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