Did not want ministerial berth: Banteidor

SHILLONG, March 6: PDF working president Banteidor Lyngdoh said the party did not set the condition of getting a ministerial berth when it extended support to the MDA 2.0 government.
“I told Chief Minister-designate Conrad K. Sangma that I do not aspire to become a cabinet minister this time. I will reject any offer to become a minister now,” the PDF leader, who was the Sports and Youth Affairs Minister in the MDA, said.
He said he would be “more than happy” if his party’s Sohra MLA, Gavin Miguel Mylliem becomes a minister. “But as it stands, we have not asked for any cabinet berth for the party,” the Mawkynrew MLA said, adding that the PDF went to support the NPP after learning that the UDP had done so without informing them.
“We were the last to go and support. We wanted to stick with the UDP even if they decided to sit in the opposition. We feel it would be better to be part of the government and continue to raise issues afflicting the people and the state,” the PDF working president.
He said that the party will continue to raise the issue of the inclusion of the Khasi language in the Eighth Schedule and the proposed amendment to the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution.
“We would like the Village Administration Bill to become an Act so as to empower the traditional bodies including the Dorbar Shnongs,” he said.
Lyngdoh also said the party will impress upon the new government the need to do away with the personal interview in the recruitment for the vacant posts in various government departments.