Two things to be noted in connection with the February 5 ‘trial of strength’ show: voting on technical compulsion and voting on their own volition. Not all the 59 legislators voted in favour of the Chief Minister on their own volition. Technical compulsion has led many legislators to go against their own conviction in voting in the Nagaland Legislative Assembly on Thursday. This has been proved by the assertion of Noke/Kaito led NPF legislators who said they would continue with their ‘legitimate demand’ i.e. the change of leadership. The NPF under the leadership of Noke Wangnao and G. Kaito Aye said they ‘unanimously’ voted in favour of the confidence motion ‘because from the very first day we have been saying that we are not against the party nor are we against the DAN government.’ It said it has only called for a change of leadership as they have lost confidence in the leadership of minority chief minister T.R. Zeliang. ‘We will never vote out the DAN Government, because we respect the mandate of the people and we will never let down our people. According to these legislators, the Thursday’s vote was a vote in favour of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government and in favour of the NPF party, but it was not a vote for the leadership of T.R. Zeliang. The Noke-Kaito group also said their opposition to the leadership of T.R. Zeliang continues and they will continue with their ‘legitimate demand’ for him to step down as the Chief Minister.
Here, we can conclude that the political crisis of the state is yet to conclude.
The Thursday episode was a physical representation in favour of T R Zeliang sans the spirit. Hence, the oust poser will continue to haunt T R Zeliang as long as the spirit is against him.
