Shurhozeilie to take oath as Nagaland CM

He was chosen as the new Chief minister at the meeting of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) which was attended by 59 legislators, NPF sources here said. 

Liezitsu, also the DAN chairman, is expected to meet the Governor on Monday evening apparently to stake his claim. Zeliang on Sunday had stepped down from the Chief Minister’s post. Governor P B Acharya had accepted his resignation and told him to continue till further arrangements were made. 

A statement from Zeliang’s Office had stated that a consensus leader will be chosen at Naga People’s Front Legislature Party meeting on Monday. Zeliang had left for Delhi on February 16 after seeking two days’ time to step down from the Chief Minister’s post. Protests had erupted in Nagaland after the state government announced that in the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) election, 33 per cent of the seats would be reserved for women. 

Different organisations in the state had demanded that the state government declare the ULB elections null and void, suspend the police and security personnel involved in January 31 firing on the protesters leading to the death of two youths in Dimapur and that Zeliang step down from the post of the Chief Minister. 

The Nagaland government had fulfilled the demand of Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC), declaring the entire process of Urban Local Bodies election with 33 per cent reservation for women as null and void. 

Their second demand of suspending the personnel involved in January 31 police firing on the protesters has been partially fulfilled as they were transferred. 

Nagaland Chief Minister designate Shurhozeilie Leizietsu on Monday met Governor P.B. Acharya here to stake claim to form a new government. He will take oath on Wednesday. Shurhozeilie will be the 17th Chief Minister of Nagaland. The Governor accepted Zeliang’s resignation but asked him to continue in office till an alternative arrangement was made. 

“Shurhozeilie will take oath of office as the Chief Minister on February 22 along with his council of ministers,” a Raj Bhavan official told IANS. Initially, the NPF legislators had plans to elect Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha member, Neiphiu Rio, as their legislature party leader. Rio, a three-time Nagaland Chief Minister, met the NPF legislators at a resort in Assam’s Kaziranga National Park on Saturday.