Kohima, June 30: Seven Congress deserters, who formed Nagaland Congress after breaking away, today decided to join ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) and extended full support to the peace initiatives taken by the coalition government under the leadership of Neiphiu Rio. Nagaland Congress sources said the party was yet to decide whether it would be a coalition partner keeping its own political identity or merge with any of the four constituents of DAN. But the sources hinted that it would prefer to join Nagaland People's Front (NPF), the largest constituent of the alliance with 21 MLAs if the regional outfit accept its plea. The deserters are yet to make any formal request to NPF in this regard despite having several rounds of informal parleys, they added.
NPF had already welcomed the decision of the seven MLAs and chief minister called upon them to join DAN to strengthen the coalition government. Seven Congress MLAs on Saturday broke away from INC saying that they were satisfied with the functioning of the Rio government which had made serious endeavours to settle the Naga political problem and appreciated the DAN government for convincing the Centre for granting Rs 365 crore peace bonus to the state. Bureau Report