Kohima : The Rising People’s Party said that Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has allegedly fooled the Eastern Nagaland People’s Organisation (ENPO), stating that the latest uproar which stems from the filing of nominations by NDPP/BJP candidates in various Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) of eastern Nagaland is believed to have been orchestrated by Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, after the issue of Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT) was scuttled.

The Ministry of Home affairs (MHA) had issued a directive whereby the state government was supposed to give its opinion on the Draft Working Paper (DWP) on FNT before December 31, 2023, while the state government sat on the DWP according to its press release on April 2024, as per the ENPO.

ENPO, however, spoke out against Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio’s diabolic policy through different press releases and decided to abstain from participating in the Lok Sabha elections, which was a historic move.

After the alleged betrayal by Rio, the ENPO decided to abstain from the LS polls, as per the party, however the public mandate spoke for itself, whereby Supongmeren Jamir of the Congress emerged victorious.

The Rising People’s Party in its statement condemned the divide and rule policy of the NDPP-BJP coalition government for humiliating the ENPO, further adding, “It’s too apparent that Rio has fooled the ENPO people twice, doubly aided by his rubber stamp president Chingwang Konyak, the president of the NDPP, and a former talk team member for Frontier Nagaland Territory (FNT), could have restrained the NDPP candidates from filing their nominations but he chose to betray his own people.”