Dimapur, April 30: Only a year ago, he was in the Congress, singing S.C. Jamir’s praises. But when he joined the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) last year, little did ex-Congressman W. Wangyuh Konyak realise that those very paeans would land him in trouble.
The Congress recently released a video footage showing Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) candidate Konyak, fiercely defending Jamir’s leadership qualities and aggressively criticising his own party. The footage was part of a Congress campaign, highlighting various achievements of the party and its candidate Asungba Sangtam before 2003. At one point, Konyak goes to the extent of calling the NPF the Congress’ “dustbin,” meaning that is where all Congress discards end up.
Congress sources said the footage was part of a party meeting shot in early 2003 when Konyak was a Congress leader running around for a ticket.
Konyak had defected to the NPF last year just after the Assembly polls. He had won the election on a Congress ticket but switched sides soon after the DAN conglomeration formed the government.
The Congress first released the CD during its Zunheboto leg of campaign in the presence of its candidate Sangtam, Jamir and another former chief minister K.L. Chishi. “This CD would now be distributed on a mass scale to expose not only Konyak but the DAN leadership as well,” Asungba said.
When the video was played at a Congress campaign meet at Zunheboto, the crowd burst into laughter when Konyak was seen praising Jamir and cursing the NPF.
Recently, Jamir also went to town describing Konyak as the man “who has landed in the Congress’ dustbin”. Little wonder, therefore, that the footage has stumped both the NPF and DAN.
Attacking the BJP-led NDA government and its allies in Nagaland (to which his NPF rival Konyak belongs), Asungba condemned the BJP as an anti-secular party bent on imposing its belief and introducing dreadful laws on banning cow slaughter and an anti-conversion bill aimed against religious minorities in the country.
“These schools fell on bad times after schools with better facilities and more classes sprouted everywhere,” Sharma said. The social worker claimed that the new school would harness the individual skills of students in the manner reputed private institutions do. “If a student is interested in sports or in music, he/she will be trained accordingly.”
He said the “best teachers in all fields” would be appointed to ensure quality education. “There will be no compromise on the quality of the faculty. The school will get the best.”
The project was conceived during a meeting of intellectuals, senior citizens and “people who matter” in the town. Chief minister Tarun Gogoi and chief secretary J.P. Rajkhowa, both of whom hail from Jorhat, were reportedly “excited” on being briefed about the idea.
If everything goes according to plan, work on the project may begin by the end of the year.