From CM to Speaker, Roy dons all roles

SHILLONG: At 63, he has achieved almost everything by donning many roles in his political career spanning 30 years since 1988.
From being a minister of state, cabinet minister, deputy chief minister, chairman of state planning board and chief minister under various party combinations, Donkupar Roy as the 16th Speaker of the 10th Assembly has added another feather to his political cap.
Though he is a doctorate in Economics from NEHU, Roy said he loved politics but he was not politically active initially.
However, economics came in handy for him when he was the chief minister of the state in 2008 and as well as deputy chief minister in-charge finance in 2003 when DD Lapang was the chief minister.
Roy, who never lost an election from Shella bordering Bangladesh, contested and won his first election as an independent in 1988 on drum symbol. Yet again in 1993, he contested and won the seat as independent.
When UDP was formed in 1997, he and other leaders preferred to use the drum symbol for the Assembly polls in 1998.
He was successively elected as an UDP candidate from Shella though with less margin of votes.
Roy has been holding the post of UDP president since 2003.
It was in 1989 that Roy was first appointed as a Minister of State in the BB Lyngdoh ministry.
In 1991, he along with a few others were disqualified by the then Speaker PR Kyndiah as part of a toppling game initiated by the Congress.
It was short-lived as the Supreme Court had quashed the ruling of the Speaker.
Roy completed his schooling from Ramakrishna Mission Primary School at Shella and then higher studies in Sohra.
He joined St Anthony’s College and opted for Economics that helped him to complete his PhD on the same subject from NEHU.
This helped him to serve as a lecturer at Synod College before plunging into politics.