Rio Nagaland

Kohima, March 07: Nagaland political stalwart and its longest-serving chief minister Neiphiu Rio took oath as chief minister for a fifth consecutive term after a convincing win for his party and its ally, the BJP. Together, the two parties have secured 33 seats in the 60-member Nagaland assembly.

Both ceremonies were graced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Taditui Rangkau Zeliang and Yanthungo Patton take oath as Deputy chief ministers of Nagaland in Kohima.

During the oath-taking ceremony in Meghalaya, Governor Phagu Chauhan swore in a 12-member council of ministers including NPP’s Prestone Tynsong and BJP’s Alexander Laloo Hek.

Modi arrived at Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati in the morning, where he was received by Assam Governor Gulab Chand Kataria.

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He then left for Shillong on a helicopter where he was received by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda, who had reached there on Monday. Assam Chief Minister and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma was also present.

At the conclusion of the swearing-in ceremony of the Meghalaya government, Modi left for Kohima in Nagaland to grace the oath-taking ceremony of NDPP’s Neiphiu Rio as the state’s chief minister.

The NDPP-BJP coalition in Nagaland won 37 seats in the 60-member Assembly in the recently-concluded Assembly polls.

All other parties in the state subsequently handed their letters of support to the Rio-led alliance making way for an Opposition-less government in the northeastern state.

Since the start of the election campaign, both NDPP and BJP had projected 72-year-old Rio as their chief ministerial face. His victory – with a 92.87 percent vote share – from his stronghold Northern Angami-II was the most resounding win of them all.

His only challenger was the Congress’s Seyievelie Sachu. Rio has won every state election he contested from the constituency since 1989. He was first a Congress leader, then joined the Naga People’s Front (NPF) leader, and is currently in the NDPP fold.