The National Investigation Agency on Thursday announced rewards ranging from Rs 4 lakh to 8 lakh for "information of importance" on insurgents involved in the attack that killed an Assam Rifles colonel and his family in Manipur last November.
Assembly speaker Sharingain Longkumer accepted the decision of the 21 NPF legislators to change party.
The 'Angh' of Oting, Tahwang, is contesting the February 27 assembly polls on a Naga People's Front (NPF) ticket against the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party MLA P Paiwang Konyak, who is a cabinet minister in the outgoing government.
Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Sunday said the people of his state, including himself, want the withdrawal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act but only after mutual understanding with the Centre as national security is their top priority.
The septuagenarian leader has with this victory, broken the record of veteran leader SC Jamir, who helmed the northeastern state thrice.
The NSCN-K had signed a ceasefire with the Centre in 2001 but unilaterally abrogated it in 2015 when the then 'chairman' of the group, S S Khaplang, was alive. Sumi is the prime accused in the killing of 18 Indian Army soldiers in Manipur in 2015 and the National Investigation Agency had announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh for his head.
As the Opposition on Wednesday held its first meeting on the presidential election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said.
Discussions and deliberations need to be held on the purpose of imposing AFSPA and how to revoke it, Rio said during the public funeral of the 14 daily wage earners of a coal mine, who were shot dead by security forces on Saturday at Oting village on their way home from work.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
Thousands of people joined a public rally organised by Nagaland People's Action Committee (NPAC) on Friday to demand an early solution to the Naga political issue.
'The State uses identity politics as part of divide and rule; the militant groups too use identity politics and civil society groups are also divided along ethnic groups.'
Exit polls by various channels predicted a hung house in Meghalaya, a win for the NDPP backed by the BJP in Nagaland, the two states that went to polls on Monday, and seemed to oscillate between predicting a clean sweep for the BJP to a hung house in the state of Tripura, where a new party the Tipra Motha may emerge as a potential king-maker in the polls, held a week back.
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Sunday said that the Centre has decided to institute a five-member committee to look into withdrawal of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 from the northeastern state.
Singh, along with five cabinet ministers, were administered oath by Governor La Ganesan.
While Manipur's Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has flown to Delhi to lay rival claims to the post of chief minister of the north-eastern state, National People's Party leader Conrad K Sangma, who had earlier flown to Imphal to seek a place for his party in the new government, seems miffed by hints that the BJP will go ahead and form a single-party government.
Violence was reported from some places of the north east state hours before the second phase of polling commenced as a BJP supporter was gunned down allegedly by a Congress worker and a crude bomb exploded outside the residence of an expelled saffron party leader, police said.
Besides law and order, the long standing demand for junking Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, economic woes of the land-locked state which has hardly any industries, are expected to figure high on the agenda of the unfolding electoral battle between the two main parties with smaller local parties such as National People's Party and the Naga People's Front chipping in with their own demands.
Security was beefed up at all BJP offices throughout the state following the violence which erupted after the candidate list was announced, official sources said.
Three weeks after Nagaland governor and Centre's interlocutor for Naga peace talks R N Ravi said in the assembly that political negotiations have concluded, the NSCN-IM has claimed that his assertion was "reckless" and talk are back on the table.
Here's how the political action unfolds in figures. How BJP, Congress, Naga People's Front, National People's Party and left parties performed in the states.
The parties agreed to the demand of tribal bodies and civil society groups to resolve the Naga political problem first.
National People's Party, a partner in the existing government which won seven seats in the just concluded state poll, will not be a part of the new dispensation, Singh told reporters at his residence.
The resolution moved by Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was adopted by voice vote during the one-day special session of the Assembly held to discuss the AFSPA, 1958, and its application to Nagaland in the aftermath of the killing of 14 civilians by security forces, including six in a botched anti-terrorist operation, and eight others in subsequent incidents in Mon district on December 4 and 5.
The Centre's new interlocutor for Naga peace talks, A K Mishra, has held an 'informal' meeting with the Working Committee of the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs), the bloc said on Thursday.
The BJP deputed Shah as observer to Uttar Pradesh, where Yogi Adityanath powered the party to an impressive victory and where there are no hurdles in the way of the priest-politician's second stint in power.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is ahead in 20 seats in Manipur, with Chief Minister N Biren Singh leading by a handsome margin of more than 16,000 votes against his nearest Congress rival in Heingang constituency, Election Commission data showed.
Exploiting the killings to ratchet up the tension in the region and harden negotiating positions with the central government serves nobody, least of all the people of Nagaland. The peace process must not be stalled because of this incident or distracted by calls to repeal the AFSPA, argues Vivek Gumaste.
Naidu informed the House that he had received letters from Singh and 13 other MPs seeking leave of absence on medical grounds.
The BJP has dumped its 15-year-old alliance partner, the ruling Naga People's Front.
The NSCN-IM, which resumed talks to find a solution to the decades-old Naga political issue after a gap of almost two years, said in a statement on Friday that the problem is "deeply rooted in India's malicious pleasure, violating the historical and political rights of the Naga people".
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
Nagaland chief minister and leader of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Neiphiu Rio on Saturday met Governor Nikhil Kumar and staked claim to form the government.
The National Socialist Council of Nagaland-Isak-Muivah on Wednesday said no peace talks were possible 'under the shadow' of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and termed Union home minister Amit Shah's statement in Parliament on the botched counter-insurgency operation as 'irresponsible.'
In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi written on February 25, but kept secret so far, Thuingaleng Muivah, the general secretary of the group and chief Naga negotiator in the talks with the government, also spoke about the framework agreement (FA) signed in 2015 and its proposal that the state should be allowed to have a Constitution and national flag.
They cited the lack of trust in the leadership of O Ibobi Singh and said that due to him, the Congress failed to form the government even when it was the single largest party in the state.
The fulcrum of victory or defeat of parties attempting to form a government is held by smaller players and those willing to defect.
Governor La Ganesan and Chief Minister N Biren Singh were among the early voters in their respective constituencies of Sagolband and Heingang.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
Assembly elections to five crucial states will take place in a few months and the results will be decisive for the BJP, which is eyeing a third successive term at the Centre, in the forthcoming the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
'PM Modi is not taking Kashmir's stance as far as the Naga issue is concerned.'