Tribal bodies ask Nagaland CM to step down before deadline

With the deadline given by tribal bodies for Chief Minister T R Zeliang's resignation set to expire today, the agitating Nagaland Tribes Action Committee, Kohima and Joint Coordination Committee urged him to step down on moral grounds, threatening "extreme" steps and "consequences" if he failed to do so.
In a statement, the organisations asserted that stepping down on moral grounds from office can be the only rational action by the CM that will mitigate the loss of lives, injuries and destruction of property that had taken place in the wake of Urban Local Bodies (ULB) elections in some areas on February 1 with 33 per cent reservation for women.

In a serious threat, the statement said on expiry of the deadline, people of the state will be left with no other option but to resort "to the most extreme step and the consequences arising out of it will be borne entirely by TR Zeliang and his cabinet."
Accusing the Zeliang-led cabinet of having commited "treachery", the two organsiations said that the tribal body Hoho, which had given him a 3-day ultimatum, is sticking to the demand that Zeliang step down from the office of the Chief Minister.
"The issue at hand is not a constitutional matter but a plain moral issue of owning up and acting upon it," the statement said.

The move comes after Zeliang met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in New Delhi yesterday where he explained to the Centre about how the state government was determined to fulfill its Constitutional obligation of holding ULB polls with 33 per cent reservation for women.
According to Nagaland officials, Zeliang told Singh that he had initiated the election process after several tribal organisations expressed support to holding of ULB polls with reservation of seats for women, and claimed these bodies took a U-turn since announcement of poll dates.