By IANS
New Delhi : Nagaland was brought under central rule late Thursday night after President Pratibha Patil signed the recommendation of the union cabinet in this regard.
Patil, who is in Hyderabad, signed the proclamation Thursday evening.
The cabinet meeting to decide on Nagaland had been chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
The northeastern state has been facing political uncertainty and instability ever since two legislators of the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), supporting the state government, left the alliance and joined the opposition Congress-led Nagaland Progressive Alliance (NPA).
The NPF is a major ally of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) and with its two MLAs crossing over to the opposition, the government of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio was reduced to a minority.
But at the time of voting, the assembly speaker disallowed the defected legislators to vote, thus saving a minority government.
The opposition members then came to the capital to lodge a protest with President Patil and also met union Home Minister Shivraj Patil.
The BJP has, however, opposed the Congress demand.
BJP spokesperson and in charge of Nagaland Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “The state assembly elections are due in less than a fortnight. Besides, if they use this as a ground to dismiss the Nagaland government, they should adopt the same standards and also dismiss the Goa government.”
In Goa, the reverse was the situation with some legislators from the Congress-led ruling front crossing over to the BJP-led opposition and also meeting the president. There too the speaker had barred the dissidents from casting their vote.
Former Nagaland chief minister S.C. Jamir is currently the Governor of Goa.