Nagaland political crisis: Governor orders trust vote on Wednesday

GUWAHATI: Nagaland governor PB Acharya on Tuesday sent a fresh directive to chief minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu to take the floor test to prove his majority on Wednesday.
The governor's directive came soon after the Kohima bench of Gauhati High Court cleared the decks for the trust vote to resolve the ongoing crisis over leadership within the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF).
In another significant development, the BJP, and ally of the NPF in the ruling Democratic Alliance of Nagaland coalition, which has been sitting on the fence so far, announced that its four MLAs would be with the NPF faction led by Liezietsu’s challenger and his predecessor TR Zelaing.
The court in its order earlier in the day had rejected Liezietsu’s prayer for sufficient time to obtain the vote of confidence after the by-election to be held on July 29, in which he is the party candidate.
Lietzietsu had moved the court on July 14, a day before the governor’s deadline for the floor test and the court had stayed the governor’s order till Monday. The court of Justice LS Jamir had reserved the verdict till 2pm today.
The court observed that the governor had reasons to believe that the petitioner (Shurhozelie) and his council of ministers have lost the confidence of the House and there is indication that there is leadership crisis in the ruling Naga People's Front
Taking cognizance of TR zeliang’s letter to governor staking claim to form the government, the court observed, "It appears that the petitioner does not enjoy the support from the majority of the House and therefore, it is open to the governor to act at his own, without any aid and advice. This court is of the considered opinion that the governor had taken the right decision to ask the petitioner to have a vote of confidence in the floor of the House to see which out of the two contesting claimants of chief ministership has a majority in the House. In that view of the matter, this court does not see any reasons to interfere with the letter dated 13-07-2017 (written by governor to Shurhozilie).”
Leitzietsu’s challenger and his predecessor Zeliang, who is an MLA from the same NPF party, wrote a letter on July 8 to governor stating that legislature party of the Naga People's Front (NPF) held a meeting on July 4 at his residence and 34 NPF MLA’s (including himself) out of 47 MLAs supported him to continue as the leader of the legislature party of the NPF and also authorized him to stake claim to form a new government in Nagaland.
Citing Zeliang’s letter, the governor wrote a letter on July 11 to Liezietsu stating that since majority should be tested on the floor of the legislative assembly, he may therefore, obtain vote of confidence on or before July 15.
Liezietsu in his response to the governor on July 11 stated that the council of ministers felt that the claim of support of 37 NPF MLAs and 7 independent MLAs made by Zeliang is an internal party matter to be discussed and resolved in the official meeting of the NPF legislatures party and not on the floor of the state legislative assembly.
Liezietsu in his petition to the court submitted that the council of ministers headed by the petitioner has not advised the governor to summon the state legislative assembly and since the DAN coalition party is intact and none of the units of DAN coalition, including the BJP, the NCP and the JD(U), has made any letter of withdrawal of support from the present government.