TURA: Boston Marak resigned from the post of chairman of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council on Friday to contest for the chief executive member’s position.
The District Council has been under administrator’s rule since the collapse of the NPP-led alliance in March following defections from within its ranks led by the chairman himself.
Speaking to The Shillong Times after handing over his resignation letter to the deputy chairman of the GHADC and sitting MDC from Darugre, Mettrinson G. Momin, which in turn would be forwarded to Governor Banwarilal Purohit, Boston said, “It is just a matter of time before the new EC is formed. It could even be by Monday.”
All eyes will now be on Purohit about when he issues a notification to hold an election from amongst the MDCs for the CEM’s post.
The governor had last month turned down the State Government’s recommendation to lift administrator’s rule from GHADC and hold an election for the CEM position on the grounds that Boston was yet to resign from the chairman’s position.
Boston was elected on an NPP ticket from Nogorpara constituency in South West Garo Hills. In 2015, NPP with 10 elected MDCs became the largest party in a house that holds direct elections to 29 seats in the Garo Hills.
It went on to form the new Executive Committee in an alliance called the Garo Hills Progressive Alliance (GHPA) with BJP and the Garo National Council (GNC).
BJP had opened its account for the first time by winning from Zikzak constituency of Mahendraganj while GNC saw three of its candidates getting elected.
The Congress, which had until the elections run the GHADC, had suffered a major setback winning only seven seats and was pushed to the opposition benches.
However, Boston who happened to be the son of Late Purno A. Sangma’s elder brother, pulled the rug from under NPP by walking into the opposition Congress fold with a group of MDCs from the ruling side shortly after the district council had passed the Codification of Garo Customary Laws Bill with members cutting across party lines giving a majority vote in its favour.
Chief Executive Member Denang T. Sangma resigned shortly after on the same day without passing the GHADC budget leading to a political crisis.
Two months later, the state unit of NPP expelled Boston Marak from the party citing his refusal to reply to a showcause notice issued to him over the council fiasco.
The party also accused him of attempting to scuttle the passing of the Garo Customary Bill that had been termed by others as ‘controversial’.
Reacting to such claims, Boston said his leaving the party had nothing to do with the passage of the bill. He said the bill was passed with the consent of both the opposition and the ruling MDCs and there was no question of his resigning over the issue.
“The GHADC EC collapsed due to the resignation of the then CEM Denang T. Sangma which had also prevented the budget from getting passed in the GHADC,” said Boston Marak.
He also accused his younger cousin and Tura Lok Sabha MP Conrad K. Sangma of not ‘listening’ to the demands for a change of leadership in the GHADC.
Along with Boston, four other MDCs from the ruling alliance joined the opposition ranks, namely Winnison Marak of GNC, Dhormonath Sangma, who won from a Congress ticket but switched over to NPP, Ismail Marak (Congress MDC who joined BJP) and Righteous Marak.
