By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: While other Northeastern states, Tripura and Nagaland, which had the Assembly elections on February 28 along with Meghalaya, are already into serious business after the formation of the new Governments, ministry formation and the subsequent preparations for the budget session is yet to become a reality for Meghalaya.
Even as the Cabinet list was cleared by Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Saturday night, there has already been much delay.
While the chief ministers, Neiphiu Rio and Manik Sarkar along with the 11 council of ministers were sworn in both in Nagaland and Tripura on March 5 and 6 respectively, only the Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma was sworn in on March 5 in Meghalaya.
The Assembly budget session of both Nagaland and Tripura will begin shortly whereas Meghalaya has to wait for the formation of the ministry before fixing the dates for the Assembly session.
Though there were reports that Dr Sangma was given a free hand by the AICC to choose his team, in reality, the Chief Minister had to camp in Delhi to get the clearance of the names by the AICC.
The Chief Minister, before leaving for Delhi,
claimed here that he has to get the list of ministers cleared by the Congress president Sonia Gandhi which, however, is viewed by the critics as a delay tactics.
There is tussle among the Congress legislators for the cabinet berths which even forced many of them to camp in Delhi till they get an assurance on their inclusion in the ministry.
In the past, formation of the Government was delayed due to the leadership tussle in the State.
However, compared to the past, there was no problem for the election of the CLP leader in Meghalaya and now the issue which remains to be solved is the limited number of cabinet berths (11 excluding the Chief Minister) and the large number of aspirants.
With the ministry yet to be formed, various important functions in the state capital are being attended by the officers as 10 days have passed since the election results.
There are reports that the swearing in of all 11 ministers may take place on Tuesday, but even after the function, there will be further delay on the allocation of portfolios.