KOHIMA: Nagaland political stalwart and its longest serving chief minister Neiphiu Rio is about to imagine workplace as chief minister for a fifth consecutive time period after a convincing win for his social gathering and its ally, the BJP. Together, the 2 events have secured 37 seats within the 60-member Nagaland meeting. The septuagenarian chief has with this victory, damaged the file of veteran chief S C Jamir, who helmed the northeastern state thrice.
Rio personally defeated Congress’ Seyievelie Sachu, a greenhorn within the political area, within the Northern Angami II constituency, within the course of serving to emasculate the grand previous social gathering within the state the place at one time it was entrenched.
Born into an Angami Naga household on November 11, 1950, he obtained his early schooling at Kohima’s Baptist English School after which went on to review on the Sainik School, Purulia in West Bengal. He later studied at St Joseph’s College, Darjeeling and got here again to complete his commencement from Kohima Arts College.
An energetic scholar chief throughout his college and school days, Rio entered politics at a really younger age. He started his practically 5 decade lengthy political profession because the president of the youth wing of the United Democratic Front in Kohima district in 1974 and later turned its Nagaland president.
Of the eight state elections he has contested to this point, Rio misplaced solely the primary one in 1987. He had fought the election then as an Independent aspirant. His political profession took an upswing from his second try simply two years later in 1989, which he made after becoming a member of Congress.
Also Read: Full List of Winners of Nagaland Assembly Elections 2023
There was no wanting again for him after that first tentative victory and Rio went on to win the next polls. He served his state in numerous capacities, together with being the house minister in Jamir’s ministry until 2002.
That 12 months he, nevertheless, give up Congress and was instrumental in reviving the cock image of Naga People’s Front (NPF).
Rio managed to dethrone Jamir and have become the chief minister for the primary time in 2003. He was, nevertheless, dismissed as chief minister when President’s Rule was imposed within the state in January 2008.
In the following election two months later his social gathering emerged as the one largest one and Rio, was invited to kind the federal government because the chief of NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland. In the following state election in 2013, NPF gained a thumping majority and Rio was re-elected as chief minister for the third time period.
He continued within the publish until 2014 when he determined to resign and enterprise to the nationwide Parliament. He used to inform reporters that his need to hitch nationwide politics stemmed from a should be the voice of his folks to press the Centre for an early resolution to the Naga peace talks.
Nonetheless, he resigned from the Lok Sabha on February 9, 2018 and returned to state politics.
With the brewing inner variations inside his then residence social gathering – the NPF, Rio joined the newly fashioned Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP).
He was chosen to be the NDPP chief and managed to interrupt the then alliance partnership between NPF and BJP. Rio, a grasp strategist, then contested the 2018 state common elections with a pre-poll settlement with the saffron social gathering.
The alliance gained 30 seats- 18 by the regional social gathering and 12 by the saffron social gathering and fashioned the federal government with the help of two NPP MLAs, one from JD(U) and an Independent MLA ending the 15-year reign of NPF within the state. H A Hongnao Konyak, vice-president, Konyak Union (KU), attributed Rio’s sustained victory at electoral politics to his experience at forging alliances.
“He is aware of that that his social gathering might not be capable of sail via by itself. Hence, he enters into fastidiously thought out alliances.
“Even this time, he continued the alliance with the party in power at the Centre and made them concede majority seats to his NDPP,” Konyak instructed PTI.
This time too, the NDPP-BJP pre-poll alliance has contested the Nagaland ballot on the identical of 40:20 seat-sharing system as in 2018 with the understanding that Rio would be the face of its new authorities.
