With only months left for the 2023 Nagaland state assembly elections, it is evident that the power play between the seasoned politicians have already started. And the drama is expected to get even more interesting from here on. What can be more dramatic than 21 out of 25 legislators defecting from one party to another at one go!
To recap, NPP’s Imnatiba and L Khumo Khiamniungan won 22 Arkakong A/C and 57 Thonoknyu A/C respectively in 2018, both of whom jumped ship and joined NDPP. Also, G. Kaito Aye, who was elected to the Nagaland Legislative Assembly in 2018 from 36 Satakha A/C as a candidate of Janata Dal (United) later joined NDPP. This is not something new. Even in the previous Nagaland Legislative Assembly, 7 Congress MLAs joined NPF. As such, the news of the 21 NPF MLAs joining NDPP did not come as a surprise.
The people of Nagaland are used to their legislators defecting from one party to another. Interestingly, when the elected representative defected to another party, all the rank and file of his party in the constituency shifted allegiance en masse. This proves that the party workers have very little respect for the party and very much respect for the legislator. The party workers are not driven by ideology, they lack party loyalty and have no respect for party principles. They only have to be in the good books of the legislator. This is one pointer why Nagaland seldom elects good leaders. In an ideal scenario, the party from which the defected candidate was elected should be the first to condemn him instead of following him en masse.
Beyond the comprehension of the common people, a lot of push and pull must be going on behind closed doors between the politicians. 21 NPF MLAs joining the NDPP must definitely be troubling the BJP regardless of the camaraderie the NDPP and BJP display in public. To any conscious observer, it is evidently clear that the BJP will not want to play second fiddle this time.
The party is now more confident than ever before in Nagaland. They will do everything in their power to try to gain maximum foothold in Nagaland in the next election. And, judging by the way electoral politics is played out in Nagaland, where the people have very little or no party allegiance, the BJP just might manage to pull off a surprise result. It is not beyond their reach to double their numbers in the assembly or so it seems.
That being the scenario, it will be interesting to watch the drama unfold as the Rising People’s Party make their maiden foray into the fray. NPF, NPP and Congress, and the other parties, now have a lot of homework to do.