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North East: Nagaland under Central rule |
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The Centre on Jan. 3 brought the north-eastern state of Nagaland under President’s Rule. President Pratibha Devisingh Patil signed the proclamation bringing the state under Central rule in Hyderabad where she had gone on a visit. Earlier, the Union Cabinet at its meeting on Jan. 1 decided to recommend President’s Rule in the State.
The State Assembly had been placed under suspended anima¬tion, the Home Ministry spokesperson said. Nagaland goes to the poll next month.
An unscheduled Cabinet meeting took stock of the political situation in the State, where uncertainty has been prevailing over the past month in the backdrop of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) coalition Ministry of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio winning a controversial no-confidence motion last month.
The political crisis began on December 13 last when the Assembly met for a day’s session to take up the no-confidence motion brought by the Congress-led Nagaland Progressive Alliance (NPA) against the DAN government.
The opposition Congress had claimed that 31 legislators voted in favour of the no-trust motion and 23 against it.
The Speaker, however, declared the votes of nine dissident legislators of the ruling Nagaland People’s Front as invalid on the grounds of defying the party whip. He ruled that the motion against the coalition government had failed.
Rio hints at going to court
Outgoing Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio on Saturday, Jan 5, hinted at going to court against the imposition of President’s Rule in the State.
“Some of our friends (party leaders) in Delhi are consulting legal experts whether the Centre’s decision should go for a judicial review in appropriate courts,” Rio saide after meeting Governor K. Shankaranarayanan.
Defending the Nagaland Speaker’s decision to debar nine MLAs of the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF) and three Independents during the voting on a no-trust motion on December 13 under the provisions of the anti-defection law, Rio asked why the same yardsticks were not applied in the case of States such as Goa and Meghalaya where the presiding officers saved the ruling govern¬ments under the same law.
Rio said only appropriate courts could take up the Speaker’s decision for a judicial review but not any other authority and ridiculed the State Congress leaders for their refusal to go to court against the outcome of the no-trust voting in the Assembly.
Governor appeals for peace
A day after the imposition of President’s Rule in Nagaland, Governor K. Sankaranarayanan urged the State bureaucracy to ensure maintenance of law and order, improve implementation and monitoring of developmental schemes and improve collection of revenue before the elections are held in the State. He urged them to give their best to ensure effective and efficient administra¬tion.
At a meeting attended by the Chief Secretary and other senior officials, the Governor urged them to ensure that the peace process moved forward. The government employees were a major stakeholder in the peace process.
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