Shillong: Conrad Sangma was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. National People’s Party Chief Sangma became the Chief Minister for the second time in a row as the Chief Minister of the State and two of the 11 Ministers took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.
First Published Mar 7, 2023, 12:09 PM IST
Conrad Sangma takes oath as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya: National People’s Party chief Conrad Sangma took oath as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Shillong on Tuesday. He was sworn in for the second time in a row along with 11 others including two Deputy Chief Ministers.
Going into the details… the National People’s Party (NPP) has emerged as the largest party by winning 26 of the 59 seats in the Meghalaya Assembly elections held on February 27. However, as the party’s magic figure is less than 31 in the 60-member assembly, NPP leaders have claimed that they will form the government with another party. Recently, NPP formed the government along with BJP. Top BJP leaders attended the swearing-in ceremony. Meghalaya Governor Phagu Chauhan administered oath to 12 ministers including NPP’s Preston Tinsong and BJP’s Alexander Lalu Hek. Tinsang and Sniabhalang Dhar were sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers.
Eight MLAs from the National People’s Party (NPP), two from the UDP, one each from the BJP and the HSPDP took oath as ministers in the Sangma Cabinet at the Raj Bhavan. Along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, Assam Chief Minister, NEDA Convenor Himanta Biswasharma and others participated in the event. Marcus N Marak, Rakkam A Sangma, Ambareen Lyngdoh, Kamon Ambon and AT Mondal were sworn in as ministers from NPP. BJP’s AL Heck, UDP’s Paul Lyngdoh, UDP’s Kirmen Shaila and HSPDP’s Shakliar Warzri took oath as ministers.
Before leaving for the Raj Bhavan for the swearing-in ceremony, Conrad Sangma participated in special pooja programs with all the cabinet ministers on Tuesday. Meanwhile, with the support of 45 MLAs, the NPP-led coalition came forward to form the government, and the coalition government in Meghalaya was strengthened. Sangma won from the South Tura constituency by a majority of 5,016 votes over Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Bernard N Marak. The United Democratic Party (UDP) won 11 seats in the assembly election results released on Thursday. Congress won five seats. The Trinamool Congress, which included all Congress MLAs in the last assembly, also got five seats.
BJP, Peoples Democratic Front and Hill State Peoples Democratic Party won two seats each. Voice of People party won four seats. Independent candidates won both seats. Although BJP and NPP are partners in the government, they contested the assembly elections separately.
