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Journalism of Courage
The Janata Dal (United) Sunday announced its first candidate for the Nagaland Assembly elections to be held next month, and suggested it will be looking to play a role in the formation of a government in the Northeastern state without the BJP.
JD(U) National President Rajiv Ranjan said Kitoho Rotokha will be the party’s candidate from the Ghaspani II constituency in the 2023 Nagaland Assembly elections, voting for which will be conducted on February 27 for 60 seats.
“In 2018, there was an election in Nagaland and the BJP gave an assurance to the people that this election is an election for a solution. Now, after the completion of five years, the people of Nagaland feel betrayed because nothing has happened for the solution,” said Rajiv Ranjan.
“In 2015 itself when Shri Rajnath Singh was the home minister, a framework agreement had been signed. They have sat on the framework agreement and no effort is being taken by the government of India to solve the Nagaland problem… If we get the support of the people of Nagaland and we have a share and say in the next government formation in Nagaland, we will ensure that peace is restored in Nagaland,” he added.
However, he stated the party “can’t join any government in which the BJP is there”. In the 2018 election, the JD(U) had contested 13 seats and had won one with a 4.49 per cent vote share across the state.
Currently, the only pre-poll alliance in place ahead of the Nagaland elections is the 40:20 sharing arrangement between the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and Bharatiya Janata Party, which lead the current ‘Opposition-less’ government in the state.
The JD(U)’s ally in the Bihar government, the Rashtriya Janata Dal, which had not contested in 2018 and had fought in only two seats in 2013, has also announced it will be participating in the Nagaland polls. Announcing the RJD’s intention to participate in the polls last week, Bihar Agriculture Minister Kumar Sarvjeet had also said if the party wins seats, it will look to play a role in forming a government without the BJP.
“We have decided to contest in as many seats as possible in Nagaland… If our candidates bring a decent number of seats, and we will be part of the government, minus the BJP. We will give government jobs to nearly one lakh youth of which 33 per cent will be reserved for women,” he had said, adding Tejashwi Yadav will travel to the state with the RJD’s manifesto.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which had contested three seats in 2018 and received a 0.75 per cent vote share across the state, too will be in the fray in Nagaland. Rajesh Sharma, the party’s Northeast in charge, has said the AAP will “contest in as many seats as possible” and will not be a part of any pre-poll alliance.
