Naga political talks at advanced stage: Ram Madhav

The Centre and the Naga underground group leaders have been making steady progress to reach an early settlement to the Naga political issue, BJP North East In-charge Ram Madhav said on Saturday.

Any settlement involves not only Nagaland but neighbouring states of Manipur, Assam and Arunachal Pradesh as well, he said.

“The ongoing negotiations are at an advanced stage. We are hopeful that a solution will be achieved soon,” he said.

Solution should be acceptable and satisfactory to all of them, he said while interacting with mediapersons at the Heliport here.

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Asked if “advanced stage” could be another slogan for the BJP for the upcoming Parliamentary elections, he said it is true that the discussions are at an advanced stage but it also takes time to find a permanent solution that is acceptable to all.

“It should not be that people would start agitating after a year of coming to a solution, which will not help anybody. We are not keeping any election in mind but we want a solution sooner than later.

“We have been told by our leadership that a sincere effort is being made to arrive at a settlement as soon as possible,” he said.

Highlighting the purpose of his visit to the state, Madhav said he is here to take stock of the overall situation of the government and party activities in the state.

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He said that he would also call on the Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and discuss the way forward for the upcoming parliamentary elections.

The BJP with 12 MLAs is an ally of the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party with six ministers.

On the unprecedented rise in prices of petroleum products, he said, “Presently inflation is at the lowest and we have brought down the prices of all commodities including all essential commodities.”

He said oil prices are guided by international developments but if compared with the earlier UPA regime, it is much less.