Kohima, July 22: The Nagaland Pradesh Congress Committee (NPCC) suffered a major setback on Wednesday after 61 office-bearers and party workers from Mokokchung district resigned en masse, accusing the state leadership of autocratic functioning and pushing the organisation into disarray.

The resignations, addressed to the All India Congress Committee (AICC) president, include district and state office-bearers, Youth Congress and Mahila Congress leaders, the Minority Department chairman, a Seva Dal organiser, advisors and executive members.

In their resignation letter, the leaders accused the NPCC leadership of creating “chaos, confusion and divisions” through what they described as an autocratic style of functioning over the past several months. They alleged that committed grassroots workers had been consistently sidelined, resulting in growing mistrust, factionalism and disillusionment within the party.

The dissidents said they had remained loyal to the Congress even during its “near-extinction” in Nagaland in 2015, but could no longer remain “silent spectators to the destruction of the party organisation.”

The mass resignation from Mokokchung, long regarded as one of the Congress’ traditional support bases in Nagaland, comes as another setback for the party’s efforts to rebuild its organisation and regain political relevance in the state.

The NPCC had not issued any response to the resignations at the time of filing this report.