Chief Minister Conrad Sangma arrived in Shillong on Tuesday evening Chief Minister Conrad Sangma arrived in Shillong on Tuesday evening after his hectic schedule during the just concluded by-poll in South Tura.A tired Sangma, who is now an ‘elected’ chief minister, was not prepared for an interview but was willing to answer a few questions posed by The Shillong Times at his residence in Upper Shillong.
ST: You are now an ‘elected’ CM. What would be your challenges in running the coalition post Ranikor by-poll setback to NPP?
Conrad: There will not be any difference in the coalition. It is the same mantra of inclusive governance. It is stronger than before and we will continue the way as we were. As far as other challenges ahead, we will have to improve the delivery mechanism and monitoring of schemes. There should be a transparent mechanism.The key sectors which need focus are education, healthcare, power, road and water supply, among others.
ST: How will you address the financial crunch?
Conrad: It is a fact that the state is facing financial constraints. The previous government made a lot of commitments without looking into the fund position, bringing additional burden to the government.We will ensure financial cut wherever it is needed to streamline unnecessary expenditure. At the same time we are trying to get more funds from the Centre, besides boosting our own revenue generation. We are also working to tide over the crisis over the ban on coal mining.
ST: What went wrong in Ranikor that led to your candidate losing the by-poll?
Conrad: We will have to do a postmortem as the defeat was a surprise for us. We will call a meeting in this regard. But we are happy that the MDA coalition is strengthened.
ST: Any ill feeling after the UDP won the by-poll?
Conrad: Not at all. We, the NPP and UDP as coalition partners have taken the outcome of the election in a positive manner. I called up the UDP president Dr Roy to congratulate him on his party’s victory and he also congratulated me. There is a positive feeling over the twin victories.
ST: Now, the Congress and NPP have 20 seats each. UDP is the second largest party. Do you think the Congress can still make a move to topple your government?
Conrad: There were attempts before the formation of the MDA government to have an alternate Congress-led government. Now our coalition is running the government for almost six months with a right direction. I do not think there is any problem within MDA as all the coalition partners want to ensure unity besides achieving the goal of good governance.
