Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio and his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma would soon meet Union home minister Amit Shah to discuss the Naga political issue, officials said in Kohima on November 29.
A senior Nagaland government official said that both Rio and Sarma already individually talked with Shah about the Naga peace talks while the Centre is holding meetings with the leaders of the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagalim (NSCN-IM), the dominant group of the Naga outfits.
Sarma, who is the convener of the BJP-led alliance of regional parties – North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), is already involved in the peace talks and attended meetings with the central government’s representative AK Mishra in September at Dimapur.
“The two chief ministers’ meeting with the Union home minister is expected to be held later this week or early next week,” the unnamed official was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.
About the upcoming meeting with the Union home minister, Rio, while talking to the media in Kohima, said that he is not aware about the latest development on the Framework Agreement, signed earlier between the central government and the NSCN-IM.
Media reports said that the Framework Agreement has become a roadblock to the “final settlement” of the Naga political issue.
To take forward the Naga peace process, the ruling and opposition parties in Nagaland recently agreed to form an all-party government named the UDA headed by Rio.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is now an ally of the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and the opposition Naga People’s Front (NPF) and two Independent MLAs are the partners in the government.
