SHILLONG: Dr Celestine Lyngdoh and Comingone Ymbon were sworn in as new Cabinet ministers of Meghalaya Government headed by Dr Mukul Sangma here on Friday, a day after two ministers- Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar were axed from the Cabinet.
Meghalaya Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the new Ministers at the Raj Bhawan here.
Dr Celesetine Lyngdoh has been allotted the Public Health Engineering (PHE) department while Comingone Ymbon has been assigned to look after the Community & Rural Development department.
It may be mentioned that Comingone Ymbon represents Raliang constituency while Dr Celestine Lyngdoh represents Umsning constituency.
Speaking to media persons after the swearing-in ceremony, Chief Minister, Mukul Sangma said that new members of the Cabinet would have to acclimatise themselves with the new challenges of responsibility which has been assigned to them.
Chief Minister also advocated the idea of more similar reshuffles in the state Cabinet which, according to him, creates healthy environment besides putting into rest all the perception of disunity and disgruntlement.
“We want to create space for everyone so that the space can be utilised for enabling us to find out who can be there in our endeavour to serve the people,” Sangma said.
Denying the allegations that the reshuffling of the ministry was effected due to disgruntlement with two former Cabinet ministers, Sniawbhalang Dhar and Prestone Tynsong, Sangma said that it is important to utilise people who are available to serve the Government and the party.
Sangma pointed out that he would like many more ministers to relieve themselves from the Cabinet to focus on their constituencies and the affairs of the party even as he added that the exercise of frequent reshuffling of the Cabinet should have been held much earlier.
When asked if the issue of anti-party activities of two former ministers was discussed in the meeting with the AICC leadership which led to the reshuffling, Sangma said that the issue of anti-party activities was not the part of the discussion but discussions took place on the strategy and how to bring about an integration between the Government and the organisation.
On being asked about Prestone Tynsong and S Dhar always remaining absent from the Cabinet meetings, Sangma said it was not correct and the Chief Minister’s office always verified as to who were available for a Cabinet meeting.
He also said that sometimes programmes for the ministers were fixed well ahead. Reacting to a query if a thorn has been removed from the flesh following the reshuffling, Chief Minister refused to comment anything on the matter.
Responding to a query about the BJP and NPP gaining ground in the state, Sangma said that his job was to reverse the whole anti- Congress process and the party knew what was to be done for the purpose.
The oath-taking ceremony was also attended by senior cabinet ministers, state Congress president, DD Lapang and others.