Shurhozelie to be next Nagaland CM
KOHIMA: Ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) supremo Shurhozelie Liezietsu will take over from Chief Minister T R Zeliang after 42 of the 49 legislators “unanimously supported” the former as the new legislature party leader, a top NPF leader said on Thursday.
“Majority of the NPF legislators have unanimously elected Shurhozelie as their new legislature party leader to break the deadlock between the agitating groups and the government.
“We have tried our best to persuade the groups but they refused to climb down,” Nagaland’s lone Rajya Sabha member K G Kenye said. “Shurhozelie has accepted the offer of the legislators to lead the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government to restore normalcy and prevent the imposition of President’s rule in the state,” Kenye said.
In the meantime, Governor P B Acharya and Zeliang left for New Delhi on Thursday afternoon from Dimapur. Zeliang is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
Agitating tribal groups — under the banner of Nagaland Tribes Action Committee (NTAC) and Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) — have been demanding the resignation of Zeliang over his decision to conduct civic bodies’ elections with 33 per cent reservation for women.
On Wednesday, the group had served the chief minister an ultimatum to resign or face further protests. Their three-day ultimatum will end on February 17.
The groups have decided to hold a public rally on Friday at Kohima to mount pressure on Zeliang to step down.
“Had the Governor and the Chief Minister not left Kohima (state capital), Shurhozelie along with the legislators would have driven down to Raj Bhavan to stake claim and form the new government,” Kenye said. He said that both the Chief Minister and the Governor are expected to return to Kohima on Friday to pave way for formation of the new government.
“We are sure that there will be smooth transition of power as the Chief Minister himself wants to ensure peace in the state after weeks of agitation,” he added. NEW DELHI: Delhi Labour Minister Gopal Rai on Thursday said like the AAP government ministers, all Delhi MPs also have a responsibility towards the people, so they should also present their report cards on the work done for the public.
Rai said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won all the seven parliamentary seats in Delhi, so they have a responsibility and accountability towards the public of the city.
“Instead of protesting, all the seven MPs of Delhi, especially BJP’s city unit chief Manoj Tiwari, should submit their report cards to the public,” Rai told reporters.
“As an MLA, I belong to a state government, but they are MPs and they have the central government, so they have a bigger role to play towards public welfare and development of Delhi,” Rai said.
He said the BJP only created hurdles in the Delhi government’s development works and protested when the government presented the report card of its public welfare works.
Rai said that municipal councillors of the Congress and the BJP were hindering the construction of a Mohalla Clinic in Noor-e-Ilahi area of north-east Delhi, which falls within his Babarpur assembly constituency.
He said, “I got several public welfare works, worth Rs 100 crore, done in my constituency. The BJP and the Congress want to stop all our development projects. What problem do they have from all the development works being done by the AAP government?”