Meghalaya cabinet formation: NPP dominates with 8 berths, UDP and BJP secure minor share
1 min read . Updated: 06 Mar 2023, 05:52 PM IST
Premium- Conrad Sangma announced that eight berths in the Meghalaya cabinet will go to his party, two will be given to the UDP and one each to the BJP and the HSPDP
National People's Party (NPP) national president Conrad K Sangma said on Monday that the alliance in Meghalaya will be named “Meghalaya Democratic Alliance 2.0" where he would serve as the chairman. Conrad Sangma also announced that eight berths in the Meghalaya cabinet will go to his party, two will be given to the United Democratic Party (UDP) and one each to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP).
Conrad Sangma said, “In the cabinet out of the 12 members, 8 will go to The National People's party, 2 will go to United Democratic Party, 1 to Hill State People's Democratic Party and 1 to BJP. The alliance will be known as Meghalaya Democratic Alliance-2.0, all agreed as the partners are the same. We have decided to elect the Chief Minister as the Chairman of the MDA-2 as well."
"From the 12 cabinet berths, four, including the chief minister, will be from the Garo Hills region and eight from the Khasi-Jaintia Hills region," Conrad Sangma added.
The decision to allot the berths to all the alliance parties was taken in a meeting in Shillong of Meghalaya on Monday.
The drama that had unfolded in Meghalaya has come to an end after the regional UDP extended its support to the NPP-BJP alliance on Sunday. Metbah Lyngdoh, president of UDP told ANI that UDP has extended its support to NPP to form the government.
"We [UDP and PDF] have extended our support to NPP," Metbah Lyngdoh said on Sunday.
With the alliances, the strength of the Conrad Sangma-led coalition has now increased to 45 and he is likely to be sworn in as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for a consecutive second term on 7 March.
(With agency inputs)