Musical Chairs in Nagaland

Pradip Phanjoubam writes:

Nagaland Chief Minister T R Zeliang, who was sworn in on 19 July after an extraordinary string of developments, has set new norms in how to keep legislators happy. After proving majority support on the floor of the state assembly on 21 July, he appointed 11 cabinet ministers, two of whom are from the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) four members. After this, he still had to please 35 more out of the 47 rebels from the ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) who supported him. On 25 July, he inducted 26 of them as parliamentary secretaries, a cabinet rank post. The remaining nine were appointed as advisers, also of cabinet rank. As a result, all 47 rebels in an assembly of 60 who voted for Zeliang in the 21 July vote of confidence, now hold cabinet ranks.