Neiphiu Rio Takes Oath As Nagaland Chief Minister For 5th Term, PM Modi Attends

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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and Assam Chief Minister and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma were among those present on the occasion.

Together, the two parties have secured 33 seats in the 60-member Nagaland assembly.

Rio will be leading an all-party government with no opposition in his state even as the central government continues talks with former rebels of the NSCN (IM) to finalise a long-awaited peace accord in the border state.

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.