Zeliang had been holding charge as Minister for Planning and Coordination and a few other departments under the Rio government.
Zeliang is slated to stake claim to form the next Democratic Alliance of Nagaland III ministry, sources said.
With the change in leadership, reshuffle in the DAN III ministry is also inevitable.
DAN comprises 52 MLAs in the 60-member state assembly.
While NPF is the major constituent of DAN with 38 members, pre-poll allies BJP and JD(U) have one MLA each.
Four NCP legislators and eight independent MLAs also joined the ruling front in 2013.
