DIMAPUR, JULY 10 (MExN): After losing the support of NPF MLAs and reduced to a minority, Chief Minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu reportedly recommended the Nagaland Governor PB Acharya to dissolve the House.
This was alleged through a press statement on Sunday by NPF MLA, Hukavi Zhimomi, who revealed that the Chief Minister with the support of only 10 MLAs recommended to the Governor to dissolve the House on July 8, 2017.
According to Hukavi, on July 4, at the NPF Legislature Party’s meet, 34 NPF MLAs authorized TR Zeliang to stake claim to form a new NPF led DAN Government while requesting Dr. Shürhozelie to resign and pave way for Zeliang to become the Chief Minister.
And since then, 3 more NPF MLAs have also come forward to support Zeliang taking the total number of MLAs supporting Zeliang to 44 out of 59 in the House, Hukavi stated.
However, four days later, on July 8, Dr. Shürhozelie recommended to the Governor for dissolution of the House, the MLA alleged.
In this connection, the MLA questioned as to whether a non-MLA Chief Minister, “totally disrespecting and transgressing the rights” of elected 44 MLAs in a house of 59, can recommend the dissolution of the House.
Meanwhile, Hukavi claimed that the CM "unilaterally" decided to contest the bye-election to "perpetuate himself in power much against the wishes of the majority of NPF MLAs.” The mandate given to him by the NPF Legislature Party on February 20, 2017 by recommending him to be the Chief Minister, the statement added, was only a “stop-gap arrangement.”
The NPF MLA further maintained that Dr. Shürhozelie, as a candidate for the bye-election and as Party President, by expelling Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries, Advisors and Chairmen, “is influencing his own election thereby blatantly violating the model code of conduct.” If he has violated election rules, it is for the Election Commission of India to see whether the bye-election needs to be countermanded, the statement said.
In light of the above, Hukavi appealed to Dr. Shürhozelie to immediately quit the post of NPF President and vacate the Chief Minister’s chair in the interest of the NPF party and the people by and large “for democratic principles in Nagaland to be restored back at the earliest.”
NPF Central Youth Wing refutes allegation
Kohima, July 10 (MExN): NPF Central Youth Wing today refuted MLA Hukavi Zhimomi’s accusation that the Chief Minister Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu called for a cabinet meeting on July 8 and recommended to the Governor for dissolution of the House.
In a rejoinder to the NPF MLA, the youth wing further stated calling the Chief Minister of Nagaland as “a non-MLA Chief Minister” is “not only derogatory but is also an insult to the intelligence of the people when the Chief Minister was duly sworn in to office by the Governor on February 22, 2017.”
It maintained that on February 15, 2017, all the DAN legislators extended their support to Dr. Shürhozelie to become the leader of the House knowing full well that he had retired from active politics. “Reluctantly, he Dr. Shürhozelie Liezietsu became the Chief Minister just to save the party-led DAN Government. Barely five months on, these very persons who had sworn their allegiance to Dr. Shürhozelie have reneged on their oath. It would appear that the allegiance of our honourable legislators have a very short warranty period and an unpredictable shelf life,” it stated.
In defence of the Chief Minister and NPF party president, the youth wing further stated that the recent suspension of the NPF MLAs were done so to maintain integrity of the party. “To say that the NPF party president had suspended 10 members just to stick on to the chair is also wide off the mark since the said members were suspended to maintain integrity of the party.”
It reminded Hukavi that as recent as 2015, several NPF MLAs were suspended from the party for anti-party activities when they rebelled against the leadership of TR Zeliang.
“As dedicated party functionaries, we do not want to indulge in paper war with any of our leaders. We only want to request our leaders to shun from petty and unfounded allegations and to dedicate themselves to the betterment of the party and the society as dictated by party aims and objectives,” the rejoinder added.
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