Rio has majority, should form government: Nagaland Guv

Neiphiu Rio has the majority and should form the government, Nagaland Governor P B Acharya said on Sunday after a meeting with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party leader, who claimed he has the support of 32 MLAs in the 60-member assembly.

Acharya said he has asked Rio to submit signatures of all the 32 MLAs supporting him by Monday.

A senior leader of the NDPP, an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party, said Rio, in his meeting with the Governor, staked claim to form the government in Nagaland saying he has the support of 32 MLAs.

Rio has the majority and should form the government, Acharya said after the meeting.

The NDPP and the BJP have won 18 and 12 seats respectively while the lone Janata Dal-United MLA G Kaito Aye and Independent legislator Tongpang Ozukum were backing the alliance, NDPP secretary general Abu Metha said.

Rio met the governor along with NDPP president Chingwang Konyak, BJP state president Visasolie Lhoungu, the JD(U) MLA and the Independent legislator, he said.

Rio is a three-time chief minister of the state.

IMAGE: Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party leader Neiphiu Rio, with BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and others, meets Governor of Nagaland P B Acharya at Raj Bhavan, in Kohima on Sunday. Photograph: PTI Photo