Neiphiu Rio Takes Oath as Chief Minister for the Fifth Time
KOHIMA: The new Nagaland cabinet took oath today with Neipihu Rio at the helm as he became the leader of the state for the fifth time.
The Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party secured a total of 25 seats for themselves in the recently concluding election process for the Nagaland state assembly. Their pre-election partner the Bharatiya Janata Party also secured 12 additional seats, bringing the total number of seats belonging to the alliance to 37. But the main news from the state was the election of the two women to the house. This is the first time that the Nagaland Assembly will see the presence of women with the election of Salhoutuonuo Kruse and Hekani Jakhalu.
The oath-taking ceremony of the new Nagaland government was attended by several political leaders. Some of them included the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party national president Jagat Prakash Nadda and North East Democratic Alliance convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma, among others. They also participated in the swearing-in ceremony for the state of Meghalaya in the first half of the day.
All the elected members of the Nagaland Assembly sent forward their letters of support towards Neipihu Rio making way for an all-party government in an opposition-less house.
Apart from the chief minister, two leaders were sworn in as deputy chief ministers. Popular leader and internet sensation Temjen Imna Along along with Salhoutuonuo Kruse, one of the first two ladies to be elected into the state assembly have also been portfolios in the new government along with several others.
The new government has multiple issues ahead of them that need to be solved as soon as possible. Chief among them are the Naga political issues which they had promised to solve soon after the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party-Bharatiya Janata Party is reelected to power.
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