Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday for the first time after taking over as the CM in the national capital.
Conrad K Sangma, who was sworn in recently as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya, won the floor test on Monday in the 10th Legislative Assembly by a voice vote.
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Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma met Prime Minister Modi at his residence in the national capital along with his other Cabinet colleagues and other partners of his coalition government.
Conrad K Sangma is also the national President of the National People’s Party (NPP).
The six-party Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) coalition includes 19 members from the National People’s Party, six from the United Democratic Party, four from the People’s Democratic Front, two each from the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) besides one Independent.
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On his Twitter handle on Saturday, the Meghalaya CM tweeted, “Called on Hon’ble Prime Minister @narendramodi ji along with Cabinet Ministers and MDA partners at his residence in New Delhi.”
Extending thanks to Prime Minister Modi for his support, Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma also tweeted, “Thank you Prime Minister ji for your support to take Meghalaya to new height.”
The floor test came after the electorate of the State threw up a fractured verdict and one week after the NPP-led MDA government was installed.
As the newly-elected Meghalaya Assembly Speaker Donkupar Roy was about to put the confidence motion to vote, the leader of opposition Mukul Sangma rose up and asked which party is leading the government.
“We would like to know whether it is NPP-led government, BJP-led government or a conglomeration of parties which is leading the government,” for CM Mukul Sangma said.
Cornering the BJP, Mukul said, “It is obvious that the mandate given by the people is a fractured mandate. Looking at the background of the whole election campaign, the mandate of the people is to form a government without the BJP.”
“The political parties in their election campaigns have promised the innocent people of the State that they have no access to the BJP. Various political parties had also clearly stated they will not have any connection with the party,” he said.
While informing the House that he is heading the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government-led by the NPP, Conrad said that he has the support of the UDP, the HSPDP, PDF besides Independents.
However, he did not mention the name of the BJP, while BJP Minister Alexander Hek and another BJP legislator Sanbor Shullai defended the saffron party of being part of the government.
“BJP is a secular party and not anti-people,” Shullai was heard shouting.
“It is very clear that this is a Meghalaya Democratic Alliance coalition government headed by the NPP. I don’t think there is any kind of doubt on this. Even in the letter of support of the MLAs which was submitted to the Governor (Ganga Prasad) all have mentioned that they are expressing their support for the NPP led Government under the leadership of Conrad K Sangma,” the CM said.
The NPP, which won 19 Assembly seats in the just concluded polls, is the second largest party after the Congress with 21 seats.