A change of guard seems imminent in Nagaland as 38 of the 49 ruling Nagaland Peoples’ Front (NPF) legislators rallied behind party chief Shurhozelie liezietsu as the next CM even as present Chief Minister TR Zeliang had left for New Delhi to ‘Central leadership’ to save his chair.
The development came a day after tribal organisations including the Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) asked the legislators to withdraw their support from Zeliang by Friday or face boycott in next year’s polls in the state.
A total of the 38 NPF legislators rallied behind liezietsu (81) during a meeting held on Thursday.
NPF sources said that the party has asked Zeliang to pave way in the interest of the party, government and people of the state.
It may be mentioned here that the NPF is a constituent of the BJP led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre and BJP is also a part of the NPF led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) alliance government in Nagaland.
“liezietsu has given his consent to the decision and accepted the offer. Only the transition is awaited,” said the Rajya Sabha MP from Nagaland KG Kenye while confirming the development.
Kenye, however, said the decision was taken only with the intention to solve the impasse that state had been witnessing in the last few days. “That is the one and only reason. The only issue confronting all of us now is the public’s demand for Zeliang’s resignation. So, we thought he has to step down even if it is for some time,” said Kenye.
He, however, said that there is no internal crisis in the NPF and that all the legislators are united.
“Zeliang might make a comeback in the near future. You cannot rule out his return because these things happen everywhere,” he said.
It may be mentioned here that the tribal two organizations—NTAC and JCC—are demanding the Chief Minister to step down for his decision to go ahead with holding the urban local bodies’ elections with 33 per cent reservation of seats for women ignoring statewide protests against it, leading to death of two youths in Dimapur on January 31 this year.
Following this the tribal bodies set a deadline for Zeliang to step down owing moral responsibility, to which Zeliang, however, did not comply. The NTAC and JCC have enforced an indefinite bandh since Monday, which have thrown the life out of gear in most of the places in the hill state.