The news of the Central Election Committee of BJP selecting the name of S. Phangnon Konyak as its candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Nagaland is a “surgical strike” by the saffron party.
Phangnon Konyak is the president of the BJP’s Women Wing in Nagaland and is said to be a native of Oting village. By selecting her, BJP has capitalized on the prevailing situation and political atmosphere in Nagaland. BJP has played the game of identity politics well by selecting a woman as its candidate. The unconfirmed reports that she is from Oting village adds more firepower to the BJP’s aggression.
Rajya Sabha election is more or less a customary procedure of electing the ruling party’s candidate of preference and it is now a foregone conclusion that Nagaland’s next MP is going to be from the BJP, a woman, and from Eastern Nagaland.
This is a very well calculated and tactical move by the BJP and is a very strong sign that the saffron party is now here to stay in Nagaland.
Being a pre-poll alliance of the BJP, and having reportedly agreed in principle earlier to support a BJP candidate for the Rajya Sabha, Chief Minister Rio and his party will in all likelihood vote for her. They simply will have to.
Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see the NPF’s decision as it is yet to make any official statement. Being a part of the oppositionless UDA government, it is expected of the NPF to toe the BJP line but, unlike the NDPP, there is a window for NPF to escape the BJP’s yoke in the eyes of disgruntled citizens.
NPF can at least abstain from voting. No, that will not stop the BJP from sending its first MP from Nagaland to the parliament but it will at least win them the bragging right as a regional party which might come handy in future. Better still, it can set up its own candidate despite all odds.