Kohima, March 30: Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday voiced confidence that the BJP-led NDA government will storm back to power under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Drumming up support for Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party candidate Tokheho Yepthomi, he said that Nagaland is a small State which is dependent on the Centre and it will only be in the fitness of things if the State Government and the Central Government are in an alliance.

Yepthomi is the consensus candidate of the ruling NDPP-led People’s Democratic Alliance (PDA), which comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Janata Dal (United) and an Independent member.

“Today, people want peace and development and such an atmosphere would be all the easier if the people elect the People’s Democratic Alliance candidate so as to be in the NDA in Delhi. It is to this effect that alliance was maintained with the BJP since 2003 till date,” Rio said in his election rallies at Noklak and Thonoknyu.

The Chief Minister was optimistic and stated that even opinion polls were showing favourable outcome for the NDA at the Centre.

He ridiculed the NPF leadership of being in the habit of misleading people through lies and cited numerous instances starting from Leader of Opposition T. R. Zeliang’s false claims of being a graduate up to the claims that the NDPP will be derecognized by the Election Commission of India and all NDPP legislators will stand disqualified after which NPF will form the government.

“The NPF’s failure to set up a candidate to the Lok Sabha and instead support the Congress candidate is a mockery since NPF has 26 MLAs in the House while the Congress does not have a single MLA and had also lost the last 3 general elections in the State. This had demoralised the NPF legislators and party workers and severe in-fighting had cropped within their ranks,” he said.

Rio said that the two National People’s Party legislators — Imnatiba and L. Khumo — had also cautioned the NPP leadership not to set up candidates as it will be against the spirit of the PDA which had set up consensus candidates.

“The two NPP legislators had made their stand clear on the party platform that if the NPP set up candidates then they, the two elected Members will have no choice but to take counter-measures in order to maintain the spirit and preserve the unity of the alliance,” he said