[dropcap]M[/dropcap]r. Neiphiu Rio does not want to see the party he nurtured from falling. With the benign objective of fighting for the cause of the Nagas Mr. Rio left the Congress party to build a suitable platform where the political issue of the Naga people could be voiced. Between the period 2002/2003 he took pains and loads of risk in career wise while endeavoring to revive a political party from scratch. Had it not been this calling to serve the Naga people Mr. Rio would not have left his cozy political nest then (he was the number two man holding the Home portfolio in the Congress ministry headed by S C Jamir). Then, no one was sure the NPF would scale this far.Neiphiu Rio’s charismatic personality and his genuineness to serve Nagaland and the Naga people have helped the cock party to propel. With the revival of the NPF party many of today’s leaders in Nagaland political arena have made their names. Nagaland has become the tourist attraction today (read the tourist inflow statistics this daily had published last month). The roads and other infrastructure have immensely improved under the leadership of Mr. Rio. Above all (the most important), he was one Chief Minister who bulldozed things that stood on the way of the growth of the NPF. He was also one Chief Minister who worked on the edge in advocating the Naga political issue.
Coming to the political quagmire in the state, Mr. Rio would not tolerate to see the NPF from disintegration. Though he has left the state politics it does not mean he would not care for the state government formed by the party he has helped built. He will come running whenever he feels his intervention becomes necessary in the party affairs. He will not like to see the government run by the party he had groomed and nurtured in trouble. So, he will want the party and the government in safe hands.
