Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang has tendered his resignation before State Governor PB Acharya on Sunday evening.
The Nagaland Governor accepted the resignation but asked Zeliang and his Council of Ministers to continue till alternative arrangements are made.
“I have resigned from the office of the Chief Minister. To select a new consensus leader to succeed me, I hereby call an emergency meeting of the Naga Peoples’ Front (NPF) legislature Party on Monday at the State banquet hall,” said a statement issued by Zeliang on Sunday.
The NPF legislature party meeting will be followed by a meeting of ruling the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) alliance of the state which includes 48 NPF legislators, four BJP legislators and eight Independents.
Zeliang also requested all the members of the ruling alliance to present in the meeting on Monday so as to elect a new consensus leader to ensure smooth transition of office and to provide the best governance to the people of Nagaland.
It may be mentioned here that while 38 of the NPF legislators decided to support party president Shurhozelie liezietsu as the next Chief Minister of the state on Thursday, close to 40 legislators including eight Independent legislators met at a resort near Kaziranga national park in Assam on late Friday night and rallied for lok Sabha MP from Nagaland Neiphu Rio as the state’s next chief minister.NPF chief Shurhozelie liezietsu, however, claimed that there is no difference of opinion among the NPF legislators and that all the party legislators are united.
“Some of the legislators met in Kaziranga but we are in touch with them and as of now we can tell that the party is intact. All the NPF legislators would meet tomorrow and elect a new legislature party leader, who will be the next chief minister,” said a senior NPF leader on Sunday.
The resignation of Chief Minister necessitated after two prominent organizations of the state—Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) launched a campaign in the state demanding his resignation owing moral responsibility for chaos that followed over the 33 percent reservation of urban local body polls in the state and subsequent death of two youth in police firing on January 31.