DIMAPUR, March 7 - In a first, Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and the Council of Ministers of the newly-elected government in Nagaland will take oath in full public view tomorrow at the Kohima Local Ground.
The venue holds significance as the announcement of Nagaland�s statehood on December 1, 1963 was made from here by the then president Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan.
The swearing-in ceremonies in the State have so far been high-profile shows at the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan, with VVIPs, VIPs and top bureaucrats in attendance.
This will be Rio�s fourth tenure as the Nagaland Chief Minister. He was the Chief Minister of Naga People�s Front (NPF)-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) government for three consecutive terms since 2003. He was elected as a Lok Sabha member in 2014 and vacated the post of chief minister. Rio resigned as MP after he was elected to the Nagaland Assembly uncontested in the just concluded Assembly elections in the State.
With the support of lone JD(U) MLA and an Independent, the alliance has a strength of 32 members in the House of 60. The BJP has 12 MLAs while its ally NDPP has 18 MLAs. The NDPP and the BJP formed the PDA after the election results were out on March 3.
Governor PB Acharya would administer the oath of office and secrecy to Rio and the 11 ministers at the main rostrum of the ground, official sources said here today.
