SHILLONG: The non-Congress parties outsmarted the Congress and came together on Sunday to form a government led by NPP with its leader Conrad Sangma as the chief minister. Conrad and his Cabinet members will take oath on Tuesday.
The coalition has the support of 34 MLAs with NPP (19), UDP (6), HSPDP (2), PDF (4), BJP (2) and Independent Samuel Sangma.
In contrast to the typical prolonged political drama in Meghalaya after any fractured mandate, the non Congress parties could successfully come to an understanding 24 hours after the election results.
The expiry of the Assembly on March 6 has necessitated the urgency to form the government.
BJP leaders Himanta Biswa Sarma and KJ Alphons reiterated that there was no inducement to attract the regional leaders as the deal was spontaneous.
UDP president Donkupar Roy said the ultimate aim was to provide stability and hence he found the non-Congress parties as the best forum considering the support it will get from the Centre.
The leaders of the coalition met Governor Ganga Prasad on Sunday evening and expressed the intent to form an NPP-led government.
The NPP legislators had elected Conrad as their leader and a letter in this regard was submitted to the governor along with the letters of support by other coalition partners.
An official source said the governor invited Conrad to form the government with a condition that he should prove the majority by March 16.
The official added that along with Conrad, 11 others will also be sworn in at Raj Bhavan.
Cong attempt fails
The Congress did make an attempt to form the next government on Saturday night and Sunday morning after the arrival of AICC leaders Mukul Wasnik, Kamal Nath, Ahmed Patel and CP Joshi. However, after several parleys, they left for Delhi unable to form a coalition with the regional parties.
The AICC leaders wanted the governor to invite the single largest party to form the government.
With 21 seats, the Congress has emerged as the single largest party.
A constitutional expert said the governor has the discretion to call any group to form the government.
Roy centre of attraction
All roads led to the official residence of UDP president Donkupar Roy on Sunday with various leaders from both the Congress and BJP, among others, flocking the place.
The UDP and HSPDP legislators in their meeting under the banner Regional Democratic Alliance had already decided to work with NPP and others to form a non-Congress government.
The Congress had sent its legislator Zenith Sangma to meet Roy but the party could not convince the coalition to change its mind to support the Congress.
Later, outgoing chief minister Mukul Sangma rushed to meet Roy seeking support to form a government minus BJP.
However, by that time, the UDP-HSPDP combine had already extended its support to NPP and BJP became the facilitator to form the new government.
Later, PDF with four legislators and Independent Samuel Sangma supported the NPP-led coalition.
Union Ministers Kiren Rijiju, K J Alphons and Assam BJP leader and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also met the UDP leader and others to keep the Congress away from forming the government. Later in the evening, the leaders of the entire coalition partners met the governor and secured the invitation of the governor to form the government.
Conrad, accompanied by the leaders of all the regional parties (UDP, HSPDP and PDF) and BJP, also paraded 34 MLAs who supported the NPP-led coalition.
Conrad for good
governance
Speaking to media persons after staking the claim, Conrad said from the beginning NPP was clear about providing good governance in Meghalaya, “which is missing for the past many years”.“We will also ensure transparency. Besides, we will see that there is proper implementation of the central government schemes and push for infrastructure in the state,” he said.
He also added that the new coalition government would work on framing policies in various sectors.
When asked if there is opposition to his selection as the chief minister, Conrad answered in negative and said he was selected as the leader of the group with the consent of the coalition partners.
The choice of Conrad was sudden as he was ready to go back to Delhi.
“I came here just with a bag and two shirts and I was planning to go back tomorrow for Parliament Session,” he said.
Asserting that running a coalition government is not easy, he, expressed optimism that the alliance would provide stable government as all MLAs are committed to work for the cause of the state and the people with an understanding.
