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Journalism of Courage
The National People’s Party (NPP) may have fallen short of the magic number in Meghalaya, but the party has few reasons to be upset. By winning 26 constituencies, it has significantly improved its tally from 2018 when it won 19 seats. At the heart of the party’s success is its young boss and incumbent Chief minister Conrad Sangma.
In the run-up to the elections, the party was beset by troubles on several fronts. The NPP’s last five years in power were far from smooth – it was accused of being too soft on the pressure groups in the state and was facing wide-ranging charges of corruption. Yet, the fact that it managed to do so well means that Conrad’s stature now towers above all of his contemporaries in the state.
Elected for the first time as an MLA in 2008, Conrad began his political career under the long shadow of his illustrious father and former Lok Sabha speaker Purno Sangma.
Conrad, who has an MBA in finance, had served as the finance minister till 2009 in a government run by a rainbow coalition of regional parties. Subsequently, from 2009 to 2013, he was the Leader of the Opposition at a time Mukul Sangma became the chief minister of a Congress-led government.
In 2015, he ensured the victory of his party in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council Election. The next year saw the death of his father and he went on to take over as the president of the NPP. In 2016, he was also elected to the Lok Sabha in a by-poll from Tura.
Two years later, he gave up his Lok Sabha seat to contest the Assembly polls – a gamble that paid off for him as he ended up becoming the CM.
In the last five years, he led the state through turbulent times with old ethnic faultlines resurfacing in the wake of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Conrad’s handling of the violence and protests, his critics would say, did not meet the mark. However, he won brownie points from several quarters with his refusal to back the BJP in its efforts to pass the Bill in the Parliament.
Observers say this was, among other things, also a sharp political posturing by Conrad. Given the NPP’s pan-northeast ambitions, the party only stood to gain from an uncompromising stance on the Act that has found resentment from indigenous communities of the region.
The NPP has rapidly expanded under Conrad. After the BJP in Manipur, the party sends the highest legislators to the state Assembly there. In Arunachal Pradesh, too, it sits on the treasury benches of the Assembly with four MLAs.
The party’s rise has been closely intertwined with that of the BJP — it is also an ally of the NDA at the Centre. However, as in the CAA episode, Conrad has not shied away from taking positions against the BJP. In the run up to the election, Conrad raised the stakes by mounting scathing public attacks on the BJP. Many say this move was a calculated one to portray the image of the bigger player in control of the state.
In the end, for Conrad, things seem to have largely gone as per plan. Hours after the results, the BJP’s face in the northeast and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted that the party would extend support to the NPP. Conrad, for his part, has not revealed his cards yet. But it is not because the choices are few – his numbers mean he can pick and choose.
