Senior legislator from the West Shillong constituency, Paul Lyngdoh, a seasoned political leader in Meghalaya, is back in Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma’s Cabinet for a second time in three years.
Meghalaya Governor CH Vijayashankar administered the oath of office and secrecy to Lyngdoh at Lok Bhawan in Shillong on Monday in the presence of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, Deputy Chief Ministers Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar, Cabinet ministers and legislators from the NPP and its alliance partners. So it’s basically as simple as that, and it’s not possible for us to accommodate anybody else from any other political party, or in fact, anybody from NPP also at this point in time. To be very Frank with you.
Maybe I would have seen the provisions and inducted other ministers also, but there is a limit to the number of ministers, and therefore we have to work on the basis of 12 numbers. I also said that, yes, in a situation like that, the calculations and the numbers are complicated for all of us, and so therefore when inform me and he gave the letter to me, I accepted the resignation.” His induction fills the vacancy created by former UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh’s resignation on October 31. The UDP has lost 11 of its 12 elected legislators in less than 40 days, marking its biggest political setback since its formation in 1997. He strongly felt that, that 11 of the MLAs has left, and so he felt that on moral ground that he should not be part of the cabinet, and he met me, of course, and he shared that information with me and.
Asked why another BJP legislator was not accommodated, he said, “So, basically, we don’t have …well, if I had another five or six small cabinet ministers to induct and the constitutional provisions allowed me. Meanwhile, denying any pressure on Metbah Lyngdoh to resign, the Chief Minister said, “Not at all. Maintaining that Metbah’s resignation was entirely voluntary, Sangma said, “But coming to Metbah Lyngdoh’s decision to quit cabinet, it was purely his own decision; there was no Pressure from our side as such.
