Dependent on the Independents

Marak had been a minister in the Congress-led MUA that lasted all of seven days. As the Congress failed to garner the magic figure of 31 legislators, it had to make way for the NCP-UDP-led MPA coalition government.

With 32 legislators after the election, the MPA government was vulnerable and shaky. It was then that NCP leader Purno Agitok Sangma, the chief architect of the MPA government, decided to get the three Independent legislators in the Congress-led MUA camp to cross over.

The day he switched over to the MPA camp, Marak was immediately sworn in as parliamentary secretary, a status equivalent to a minister of state. Soon, there were murmurs in the secretariat that the other two Independent legislators left in the Congress camp, A.T. Mondal and Nimison Sangma, were likely to join the MPA. The MPA is acutely aware that with 33 legislators—after Ismail Marak joined it—the government is still in danger of being toppled.

Nobody understands this better that P.A. Sangma. He was a victim of turncoat politics way back in 1990 when B.B. Lyngdoh, the veteran regional party leader, toppled his 48-member Congress-led coalition. As recently as 2003, Sangma could only watch as the Congress split the NCP, taking away as many as six legislators to its camp. So Sangma and the MPA bigwigs know that the MPA government, which is strung together by a list of parties—NCP, UDP, BJP, Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), Hills State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and three Independent legislators—can never be far from trouble and internal bickering.

The MPA realises that it will be easier to get the Independents over than trying to split the Congress, which has 25 legislators.