Nagaland chief minister Neiphiu Rio was on Tuesday elected president of the Naga People’s Front (NPF), three days after the merger of his party, the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), with the NPF.
At the NPF general convention held in Kohima on Monday, delegates unanimously approved the October 18 merger and announced a new team of central office-bearers with Rio as president and Achumbemo Kikon continuing as secretary general. The term of the new central executive council, frontal organisations and cells will run till 2030.
The merger reunites two major regional forces and marks Rio’s formal return to the party he once led to three consecutive victories between 2003 and 2013. He had left the NPF in 2017 to form the NDPP following differences with the leadership. The NDPP later formed the government in alliance with the BJP, which will continue even after the merger.
The move was anticipated after the NPF’s central executive council invited Rio to rejoin the party in September. The merger was ratified at the NDPP general convention on October 18, where delegates hailed it as a “mature and well-calibrated step” to build a unified regional front “for the greater Naga cause”.
After his election, Rio said on X, “Today we celebrate unity and look ahead with renewed purpose. This historic merger reflects the spirit of sacrifice, respect for legacy, and the aspiration to make Nagaland a state guided by merit and fairness.”
The NPF convention also resolved to extend full confidence and support to Rio as both chief minister of Nagaland and NPF president.