The national president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), JP Nadda, is set arrive today on a two-day visit to Nagaland.
Nadda will address a public rally at GMS ground in Old Riphyim, Tuyi Mandal in Wokha which is represented by Deputy CM and BJP legislature party leader Y Patton on the same day from 12:30 PM onwards, a BJP official said.
Nadda was scheduled to address a public rally in Dimapur which was later cancelled. Amid the preparations for the party president’s arrival in the state,some discontent among party leaders has started brewing with regards to Nadda’s itinerary.
“Naddaji is a leader of national stature and why should he address a public meeting at a small village as it looks like it is being done for a particular leader. A common sentiment is that he should have done it in Dimapur or Kohima. Then, all of us would have felt that he is there for the entire state leadership,” a News18 report quoted a BJP source as saying.
In the report by the news television channel, another source was quoted as saying “Is he (Patton) sure of winning the next election? Instead of the initial plan to have the rally in Dimapur for the entire state, he has hijacked it by forcing the state unit to have the rally at his own village which is a very small place.”
Meanwhile, the Mokokchung district BJP president Imolemba told Mokokchung Times that a delegation of 35 party workers including state council members, district BJP Morcha/ Cells/department members and mandal BJP officials will be heading to Kohima to attend a mandal-level meeting with the national president along with other state BJP office bearers at the Capital Cultural Hall, PR Hill Kohima at 2:00 PM Thursday.
The Mokokchung district BJP president said that all preparations had been completed for a public rally in Dimapur but he was informed by the state party officials that the rally had been shifted to Wokha.
On being asked why the rally was shifted, he said, “It was probably on the request of Deputy CM Y Patton.”
Earlier in the day, Patton had in a tweet said, “As we all eagerly await the Respected National President, @BJP4India, Shri @JPNaddaJi’s visit to Wokha for the public meeting tomorrow (Sept 15), visited the venue today to assess the preparedness.” To which Minister Temjen Imna Along responded, “Appreciated @YanthungoPatton for a strong leadership.”
According to reports, Nadda will also hold a meeting with the BJP legislators and Nagaland’s lone Rajya Sabha MP, S Phangnon Konyak at the residence of Y Patton in Kohima.
It was also reported that, on the second day of his two-day visit (September 16), Nadda will visit the Kohima Ao Baptist Arogo (KABA) and the St. Mary’s Cathedral in Kohima at 9:45 am onwards before leaving for Chumoukedima, where he will meet with intellectuals and professionals at the Police Complex, Chumoukedima.
The State BJP president and Nagaland minister Temjen Imna Along had urged the people not to resort to “religious stigmatization among the Naga people as India, being a democratic country, will stand for the people.” In a meeting in Mokokchung on August 8, which was covered in this newspaper, he said that 99.9 percent of the BJP karyakartas in Nagaland are Christians.
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