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Political crisis in Meghalaya |
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The political crisis which engulfed the 20-month-old Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum (MPF) coalition Government on November 12 appears to have been brought under control by Chief Minister E.K. Mawlong. The crisis was sparked off when two of the MPF constituents - BJP and NCP - pulled out of the Ministry blaming the Mawlong Government for widespread corruption.
In a bid to save his Government, the Chief Minister resorted to the common weapon of Cabinet expansion and virtually forced a split in the NCP (Nationalist Congress Party) by expanding his Ministry on November 15 and elevating to Cabinet rank two of the 10 Ministers of State belonging to the ally and giving ministerial berths to two more of its MLAs. All the 12 NCP Ministers were present at the swearing-in ceremony held on November 15. State Governor M.M. Jacob discharged his constitutional duty of administering oath of office to the new Ministers.
The NCP, a member of the coalition, has 15 MLAs. Earlier, NCP State president, Robert Kharshing said the party had withdrawn support to the Mawlong Ministry on the directive of the NCP High Command. But a division in the NCP came to the surface almost immediately when NCP Legislature Party leader and Planning and Development Minister Lotsing Sangma defied the State chief’s directive and assured support to Mawlong, who was promoted as the State’s Deputy Chief Minister in the reshuffle. Sangma said that he had received instructions from the party high command (P.A. Sangma/Sharad Pawar) to continue to support Mawlong.
Kharshing, on the other hand, claimed that the NCP MLAs met the Governor and conveyed to him the withdrawal of support to the Mawlong-led Meghalaya Parliamentary Forum coalition which had a strength of 41 members in the 60-member State Assembly. When asked about the NCP MLAs siding with Mawlong, Kharshing admitted that most of them were not abiding by party High Command instructions to withdraw support.
Echoing the view NCP general secretary P.A. Sangma said that “there appears to be a split in the NCP legislature wing, but not in the party.”
The BJP which triggered the crisis by withdrawing support from the Mawlong Ministry on November 12, later issued a clarification that it would continue to support the Government from outside. The BJP’s decision to withdraw from the Ministry came in the wake of the party’s opposition to the controversial joint venture accord between the Meghalaya Government and a private builder to construct a State Government house in Kolkata. The project has come under attack from most constituents of the ruling MPF coalition. Observers, however, believe that resentment in the BJP had been brewing since November 9 when Mawlong deprived the party of the Home portfolio.
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