NDPP’s Neiphiu Rio, NPP’s Conrad Sangma take oath as CMs of two NE states

TIL Desk/National/NE/ NDPP’s Neiphiu Rio and NPP’s Conrad Sangma were on Tuesday sworn in as chief ministers of Nagaland and Meghalaya. BJP’s Manik Saha, too, will take oath as the chief minister of the saffron-party led alliance government in Tripura on Thursday, a day after Holi.

The NDPP-BJP coalition, in the recently concluded Nagaland polls, won 37 seats in the 60-member Assembly. All other parties in the state subsequently extended their letters of support to the Rio-led alliance. Since the commencement of election campaign, both NDPP and BJP had projected 72-year-old Rio as their chief ministerial candidate.

In Meghalaya, the NPP-led alliance, with 45 MLAs in its support, including two of the BJP, has staked claim to form government. Sangma was sworn in as the CM for a second consecutive term. The speaker of the newly formed assembly will be elected on March 9 during a special House session.

The BJP and its allies have retained power in Tripura and Nagaland, while in Meghalaya, the National People’s Party (NPP) emerged as the single largest party, with the saffron party later extending support to the regional outfit led by Conrad Sangma.