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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Feb. 9 (EMN): Naga People’s Front (NPF) MLA YM Yollow Konyak of 42-Wackching Assembly Constituency was on Wednesday sworn in as minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change.
His induction has increased the strength of the Council of Ministers to 12.
Governor of Nagaland Prof. Jagdish Mukhi administered the oath of office to the new minister at Dr. Imkongliba Ao Hall, Raj Bhavan in Kohima on Wednesday.
Yollow Konyak is one of 20 MLAs and four Cabinet ministers from the eastern Nagaland region.
The Environment, Forest and Climate Change and Justice and Law seat had been lying vacant after the passing away of CM Chang in October 2020.
‘The meaning of all-party government is translated into a reality by inducting one cabinet minister and we are grateful to the chief minister,’ NPF Legislature Party leader TR Zeliang stated.
Speaking to journalists after the swearing-in ceremony, Zeliang, who was also appointed chairman of United Democratic Alliance (UDA) on Tuesday, thanked the chief minister for giving him the post.
Maintaining that the objective of the UDA alliance in Nagaland is to facilitate an early settlement to the protracted Naga political issue, he called upon the 60 members to give the “last push to the negotiation before Christmas”.
He added that the NPF had invited Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio to campaign in Manipur, taking into consideration the all-party government in Nagaland as well as the NPF and BJP alliance in Manipur.
As reported earlier, the chief minister has agreed to campaign for NPF candidates in Manipur. Zeliang also said that Rio has “agreed in principle” to campaign for the NPF.
He informed that the NPF would kick off its campaign in Senapati on February 16 and expressed hope that Rio would join as well.
On the prospect of NPF in the upcoming Manipur polls, Zeliang said that the party made a mistake in allotment of tickets in the last election. However, this time, the party made sure that the right person gets the ticket. “We are hopeful that we will win all the 10 seats,” he added.
The governor administered the oath in the presence of his wife, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, NLA Speaker Sharingain Longkumer, a host of ministers and advisors, and invitees.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary J Alam opened the proceedings of the swearing-in ceremony.
Meanwhile, the chief minister has appointed two NDPP legislators -- H Chuba Chang and S Keoshu Yimchunger -- as advisors, stated a notification from the chief secretary on Wednesday.
Chang is the new advisor of Justice and Law, and State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) while Yimchunger is the advisor of Village Guards and Information and Public Relations.
Chang from 51-Noksen Legislative Assembly constituency and S Keoshu Yimchunger from 58-Shamator-Chessore constituency were elected unopposed to the Nagaland Assembly in bye-elections last year.
It may be mentioned that the minstry for Village Guards, Information and Public Relations, and SCERT was held by NDPP legislator Toshi Wungtung, who passed away in July last year.