Piping his sister, Agatha, a former union minister in the UPA dispensation, to the post, Conrad Sangma, son of the late P.A. Sangma, is all set to become the new chief minister of the picturesque hill state of Meghalaya.
The National People’s Party (NPP) will form a non-Congress government with the support of three regional parties, the BJP and one independent MLA.
With this twist, Meghalaya is the third state in less than a year after Goa and Manipur where the Congress has not been able to forge a post-poll alliance with any of the regional parties despite emerging as the single largest party.
Wharton-educated Conrad (40), who is the father of two girls, will take over the reins of power from two-term chief minister Mukul Sangma. Incidentally, both the Sangmas are from the same town of Tura in Garo Hills.
The 34 legislators who has pledged support to Conrad include 19 from the NPP, six from the United Democratic Party (UDP), four from the People’s Democratic Front (PDF), two each from the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and BJP besides one independent MLA, Samuel Sangma.
Agatha, 37, said she is happy that Meghalaya will be now ruled by an able administrator like Conrad and assured the people of good governance, which she claimed was so far lacking in the state. She, however, kept mum when asked whether she would be the home minister in the new cabinet and said it was up to the leaders to decide who would get to be inducted and in what capacity.
The ruling Congress, which emerged as the single-largest party, winning 21 seats, could not outmanoeuvre the wily Assam strongman, Himanta Biswa Sarma, a master-strategist, when it came to stitching up alliances. Even the presence of top Congress leaders including Ahmed Patel, C.P. Joshi and Kamal Nath was no match to Sarma’s expertise; ironically, Sarma is a former Congressman himself.
The Congress had made all attempts to convince the regional parties to support it in government formation. Outgoing Chief Minister Mukul, even came up with a 'preposterous' proposal of sharing power—two-and-half years each—with the UDP, the main regional party in the state, which won six seats.
“He (Mukul) came and met me, seeking our support to form the government with a proposal of sharing power for two-and-half years each,” UDP chief Dr. Dongkupar Roy said. The UDP, however, turned down the offer as it would mean pushing Meghalaya into a state of instability.