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Journalism of Courage
A day after the United Democratic Party (UDP) made a U-turn and extended support to the incumbent National People’s Party (NPP) for its government-formation bid in Meghalaya, Chief Minister and NPP president Conrad Sangma said Monday that despite having the majority number he had approached his erstwhile ally “personally” to “request” them to join the ruling coalition.
“To not care about our friends just because we have the numbers…that is not the right attitude,” Sangma said, addressing a press conference soon after the 59 newly-elected MLAs took their oaths in the state Assembly.
“I visited the residence of UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh personally and I requested him… I approached the PDF also… They did not call me. I had the numbers but as a matter of principle I wanted to take everybody along… I believe in team work,” Sangma said.
After the poll results threw up a hung Assembly, a high drama played out for three days, with each of the two rival political formations claiming they had the numbers to form the government, even though Sangma, whose NPP emerged as the single largest party with 26 MLAs, appeared to have cobbled up the simple majority number.
All such speculations were however put to rest Sunday night as the UDP, which emerged as the second-largest party with 11 seats, and the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) announced their support to the NPP, which took its coalition’s tally to 45 in the 60-member House.
Following the UDP and PDF’s move, the NPP has now all its erstwhile allies on board, which were part of the previous Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government. They have also decided to call their new coalition the MDA 2.0.
Sangma said since the elections were over, it was time to leave the “negative mindset” behind and move forward to do “real work”. He expressed satisfaction that “our whole team is back together again”.
As per the power-sharing formula in the MDA 2.0 government, the NPP will have eight cabinet berths, the UDP two, and the BJP and HSPDP will get one portfolio each. “Four ministers will be from the Garo Hills, and eight from the Khasi-Jaintia Hills,” Sangma said.
Close on the heels of the poll outcome Thursday, the BJP, with two MLAs, extended support to the NPP, which was followed by two Independent MLAs and two Hill State Peoples’ Democratic Party (HSPDP) legislators backing the party, which took its post-poll alliance’s tally to 32, one more than the simple majority mark.
But then another game of power play ensued, as part of which the UDP tried to stitch up an alternative non-NPP, non-BJP government with some regional outfits and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Mukul Sangma.
The HSPDP also upped the ante, claiming it had “not authorised” its two MLAs to back the NPP-led coalition. The MLAs’ move sparked protest by the activists of some pressure groups in parts of Shillong, who burnt their effigies and set fire to the office of one of them.
On Monday, responding to queries why the UDP decided to join the NPP-led government again, its president Lyngdoh told reporters that it would be wrong to blame the party for “creating drama”. “UDP is the only party (after NPP) that got 11 seats. So the people of this region had given the mandate for us… During our campaigns, we heard from the people that this is the time that our party should lead… and we made an attempt. But even then our numbers were not enough, so we joined the NPP,” he said.
Meanwhile, the stage is set for Sangma to be sworn in as the CM for the second consecutive term on March 7 in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Holding that PM Modi’s presence at his swearing-in ceremony will be a “historic event”, the NPP chief said it will also send a “strong message that the PM is concerned about Meghalaya and will support and give all the help needed”.
