Naga issue still elusive: Rio

The protracted Naga political issue continued to elude a solution despite the best efforts Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio said today.
"The protracted Naga political issues continues to elude a solution, despite our best efforts," Rio said while presenting the vote-on-account for the first quarter of the fiscal 2014-15 in the Assembly.
"We were always prepared to pave the way for an alternative arrangement, and we even tried hard to push forward the issue just before the Assembly elections during the concluding months of DAN-II government," he said.
Rio said that special efforts by Joint Legislators Forum headed by the Speaker with all the 60 MLAs belonging to various political parties and the Forum for Naga Reconciliation did not bear fruit.

He said "We have hope that after the ensuing Parliamentary elections, the Naga political issue will gain due priority for being resolved ... Nagas are waiting for this historic moment to arrive."
Rio regretted that despite 17 years of ceasefire and peace talks between the GoI and Naga underground groups not much headway was made, while factional clashes continued affecting daily life of the common people.
Meanwhile, Rio reiterated that DAN was the embodiment and expression of people's collective will.
"DAN is indeed the cooperative and consultative model of inclusive governance, however, within the four walls of the Constitutional framework," he added.