Neiphiu Rio may replace Zeliang as Nagaland CM
RIO, WHO QUIT AS CHIEF MINISTER TO CONTEST AND WIN THE LOK SABHA POLLS IN 2014, HAD MADE ZELIANG HIS SUCCESSOR
NEW DELHI/AGARTALA : Nagaland’s lone Lok Sabha member Neiphiu Rio, not Naga People’s Front (NPF) president Shurhozelie Liezietsu, may replace TR Zeliang as the chief minister.
Rio, who had been Zeliang’s predecessor for 11 years, managed to wean away more than 40 MLAs of the 60-member Nagaland assembly and herd them in resorts at Kaziranga National Park in adjoining Assam.
But the rival camp in the NPF headed by Liezietsu, 81, said Saturday evening that “the party is still intact and nothing will go wrong since we still hold the trump card.”
“Some of our legislators have gone to Kaziranga but they are still NPF legislators and we are in touch with many of them,” Liezietsu assured party workers in a meeting. “The change in our favour will take place in a day or two,” he added.
The Tamil Nadu-like turn of events happened after the MLAs, including some independents, sneaked out of Nagaland on Friday night and checked into resorts in Kaziranga. One of the resorts, Borgos, confirmed the Nagaland MLAs booked 11 rooms, some with double occupancy. This happened after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) reportedly brokered a deal between Zeliang and Rio in Delhi. NPF is an ally of BJP and the two are constituents of the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN).
Rio, who quit as chief minister to contest and win the Lok Sabha polls in 2014, had made Zeliang his successor. But differences between the two cropped up as Rio, denied a berth in the Narendra Modi government, sought to take over the reins again.
Rio had led a team of NPF dissidents in a bid to pull the carpet from under Zeliang’s feet in January 2015. Zeliang not only survived the test but managed to bring all MLAs, including those of the Congress, to his side.
This time, Rio allegedly seized the opportunity after the row over women quota in the cancelled civic body polls made tribal organisations demand Zeliang’s resignation.
Zeliang and governor PB Acharya left for Delhi on Thursday, a day after 33 of NPF’s 49 legislators and seven independents backed Liezietsu as their next CM. The NPF said their travel plan was coincidental.
Despite Acharya’s absence, the DAN Legislature Party submitted a letter on Friday to the Raj Bhavan in Kohima committing the support of the MLAs for Liezietsu.
Rio, who reached Nagaland’s commercial hub Dimapur on Saturday afternoon, was scheduled to drive to Kaziranga to meet the NPF legislators who checked in “for a couple of days”. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Kerala slips into an unprecedented drought, wild animals have started raiding human settlements in search of water and food, endangering lives of people settled in fringe areas of the forest. Last week three people were gored to death by elephant herds in separate incidents in the forested Idukki and Wayanad districts.
In the drought-hit Wayanad — the north Kerala district saw 72% deficit rainfall during the last two monsoons — people say besides elephants, other animals like, bison, deer and boars, made regular incursions into their villages.
Pepper plantation worker Nagappan, 34, was gored to death by a tusker three days ago in the district. About one-third of the district has forest cover.
According to forest officials, usually nearly 800 elephants are spotted along the Kabani riverbanks, a favorite summer habitat of jumbos in the Nilagiris, but this year their numbers dwindled to 120 as the river has partially dried up.
“Devoid of food and water, the elephant herds have become aggressive. Small crackers or fire torches fail to deter them these days. Bison and deer are behaving like domesticated animals,” said Velayudhan, a farm labourer of Thalappadi in Wayanad.