Unfazed by defections, JD(U) to contest Nagaland election

GUWAHATI: Undeterred by the frequent poaching of its legislators by BJP in northeastern states, JD(U) has decided to go full steam in the upcoming Nagaland assembly elections scheduled early next year.
The party’s national general secretary and in-charge of the northeast, Afaque Ahmed Khan, said, “People have left us but our party is there and is working. Here in Nagaland, too, they have gone, and we all know who have taken them, but we will fight the election. We contested in past and we will do it again.”

In 2018, the JD(U) won one seat but soon switched sides to join the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), which is BJP’s partner in the ruling alliance. The party’s best performance in Nagaland was in its first election in 2003 when it won three seats from among the 13 it had contested and gathered a vote share of nearly 6%. In the last election, the party’s vote share was over 4%.
He said no decisions have been made on seats and alliances yet. “We are preparing ourselves but it’s certain that we will contest the Nagaland election. We have fought without any alliance in the past and we have got good number of votes and have also won seats,” he added.
Khan said JD(U) may not be visible in the entire state but has built bases in several places like Dimapur, Zunheboto and Wokha.
Khan said the party will not be contesting the upcoming election in Nagaland just for achieving the status of national party.
“We already have state party status in three states (Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur). It is natural that we win one more state then we will get the status of national party. But we are not contesting elections just to achieve this status. Wherever we have bases, we fight elections there.”
On Tuesday, Bihar chief minister and JD(U) leader Nitsh Kumar will address an All Nagaland Bihari Conference in Dimapur. This first-of-its-kind conference organised by Nagaland Bihari Samaj, Bihari Kalyan Samiti and Matri Foundation will commemorate the 120th birth anniversary of socialist leader Jayprakash Narayan, popularly called JP.
JD(U) is harping on JP’s efforts to bring peace in Nagaland in the 60’s when a member of Peace Mission was coordinated by Nagaland Baptist Church Council to mediate between underground groups and the central government.“We are asking the present central government to settle the long continuing dialogues for peace in Nagaland and not play with it. JP made such efforts in 1964 and the government should at least settle the talks,” Khan said.