2013: Rewind
SHILLONG: The perennial issue of political instability and musical chairs that had dogged Meghalaya for decades did not figure in the year 2013. The year started with the Congress securing 29 seats and emerging as the single largest party after the February 23 Assembly general elections.
The Nationalist Peoples’ Party (NPP) suffered the biggest setback in the Assembly elections after winning only two seats despite being the party formed by former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma.
The biggest triumph of the Congress was in the five districts in Garo Hills where it secured 14 out of the 24 seats in the region.
Among the prominent losers are in the election were UDP candidates and cabinet ministers BM Lanong who lost to Ampareen Lyngdoh; JA Lyngdoh who lost to Congress candidate Kennedy Khyriem and Opposition leader Conrad K Sangma who lost to Clement R Marak from Selsella.
After the Congress party’s impressive show in the election, Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma was sworn in for the second time on March 6.
The 11 Cabinet Ministers included three women ministers, namely Ampareen Lyngdoh, Deborah C Marak and Roshan Warjri who became the first woman Home Minister of the State on March 13.
After a lot of speculation about who would be the next Assembly Speaker, the Chief Minister sprang a surprise by announcing the name of Phulbari Congress legislator Abu Taher Mondal. Mondal was a Minister in the previous Cabinet under the leadership of Dr Sangma.
There was no major dissension on the issue of leadership in the Congress party this time compared to the past.
Former Chief Minister DD Lapang has also taken a back seat and is content to back Dr Mukul as the undisputed leader of the party.
Meanwhile, the statement of the Chief Minister that performance of Congress has gone down in Khasi-Jaintia Hills while it is gaining strength in Garo Hills under his leadership did create an outburst amongst the party units in Khasi-Jaintia Hills.
The number of Congress seats in Khasi-Jaintia Hills has gone down from 21 to 16 in the last Assembly polls while it has gone up to a record high from 7 to 13 in Garo Hills, Dr Sangma had said.
Dr Sangma attributed this poor show of the Party in the Khasi-Jaintia Hills to infighting and to his detractors, hinting at the DD Lapang- Vincent Pala combine.
Dr Sangma’s one year tenure was not free from criticism. The opposition criticized the Chief Minister for his autocratic style of functioning.
The opposition also slammed him for remaining absent from the State very frequently thereby affecting the whole process of governance.
The opposition also questioned the Chief Minister for not deputing any senior Ministers to take up the responsibility during his absence.
Meanwhile, the proposed delimitation of the Autonomous District Council (ADCs) constituencies has been strongly opposed by several MDCs in the KHADC.
Governor Dr KK Paul had directed the three ADCs to constitute a Delimitation Committee for the proposed delimitation.
While the KHADC and JHADC have completed the delimitation exercise, the GHADC is yet to complete the exercise.
Even though Government is keen to conduct the district council elections as per the new delimited constituencies, it has decided to wait for the Governor take a final call on the proposed delimitation.
