NEW DELHI/ SHILLONG: Under pressure from within the ruling MDA and the Opposition Congress, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma might divest his brother and Minister James Sangma of the crucial Home portfolio instead of dropping him altogether from the ministry.
But to keep his own NPP and family happy, the chief minister in all probability will keep the Home portfolio with himself. This will also keep an aspiring UDP under control, sources said.
There is a breakdown of law and order situation in some parts of the state under the present regime, the sources said on condition of anonymity. There are also reports of corruption by some NPP ministers, making everyone uncomfortable, they added.
In this difficult situation, Conrad is having to walk a tightrope with a please-all-disturb-none policy, the sources said. “But this is not working anymore,” one of them said.
The stage has now come where the chief minister has to intervene and relieve James of the most important portfolio, sources within NPP said. By now a clever politician, Conrad will, however, take away only the Home portfolio and leave the others with his elder brother.
This way NPP can retain the crucial Home portfolio within the family and at the same time silence the critics, mostly within MDA, which will also control the damage. The NPP is no more in a comfortable position with the Lokayukta ordering a CBI probe into illegal coal mining and growing restlessness among groups over ILP in the state.
Starting with the shock defeat of its turncoat candidate MM Danggo in the assembly bypoll to instability in the district councils, NPP has lost the image it had got after the last assembly polls. Its love-hate relationship with the BJP heading the NDA has not helped either.
Observers feel that the chief minister will take this minimum remedial action to placate his partners and keep his own party intact.
