Amid protesters demanding the resignation of Nagaland Chief Minister TR Zeliang for the recent violence and subsequent killing of two youths, Speaker of the Nagaland legislative Assembly, Chotisuh Sazo on Wednesday said that he had not received any letter from any members of the House withdrawing support to the Chief Minister.
Terming the demand for resignation of the Chief Minister as illegal, the Speaker also appealed to the agitating parties to refrain from making such unconstitutional demands and start the process of dialogue to arrive at an amicable solution.
“The Chief Minister is not elected by the people, but by the representatives of the people and is considered the first among equals as long as he enjoys the confidence and support of the majority of the total number of legislators in the Assembly,” said the Speaker in a statement issued to the media on Wednesday.
“It should be kept in mind that till this point of time, I have not received any letter from a single MlA withdrawing his support to the leadership of the present Chief Minister. As such, as far as the Assembly is concerned, all the 59 MlAs unanimously support the leadership of the leader of the House, TR Zeliang,” said the Speaker.
“It has come to my attention through news reports that calls are being made by social organizations to the MlAs belonging to their social groups to withdraw their support to the Chief Minister,” he said adding that it would amount to illegal or criminal act if any MlA is coerced, forced or threatened to tender their resignation or withdraw their support.
It may be mentioned here that Zeliang had on Tuesday indicated hands of some section with vested interests behind the protests and said that protesters are being used politically by some factions for petty political benefits.
Meanwhile, the Nagaland government also instituted a one-man Judicial Inquiry Commission headed by retired Justice l N Sema today to probe the violent incidents at Dimapur January 31 this year that led to killing of two youths and injured over a dozen others.
A statement issued by the Nagaland Home department said this today and added that the probe will also try to find out the chain of events leading to the violent incidents in Dimapur and the role of groups or individuals in abetting the violence.
The government has also asked the one man commission to ascertain the steps taken by the district and police administration while dealing the law and order situation as it evolved in Dimapur on that day and the adequacy of the same.
The statement said that the one man commission will submit the report to the government within two months time.
It may be mentioned here that while the violence have subsided in Nagaland and situation is gradyually turning normal, some tribal bodies like Nagaland Tribes Action Committee and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) has decided to continue their demands for resignation of the Chief Minister owing moral responsibility for the killing of two youths.