Shillong, April 20 (Inditop.com) Designated Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul M. Sangma Monday said he would try to ensure coherence and unity within the Congress Legislature Party to prevent frequent change of government.
“Some exercise will be done to make certain that differences will be resolved amicably,” Sangma told journalists after unanimously elected as new CLP leader.
Outgoing Chief Minister D.D. Lapang proposed Sangma’s name as his successor at the CLP meeting here.
Sangma was the deputy chief minister in the outgoing Lapang 12-member cabinet.
Monday evening, Lapang tendered his resignation to Governor R.S. Mooshahary after he failed to secure his position at 10 Janpath in New Delhi.
“I had met 18 MLAs in New Delhi and they proposed to elect Mukul as the next leader, and with all my blessings, I had accepted to pave way for him to take over,” Lapang said.
“It is only a family matter and that the unity of the party is my first priority; nobody is indispensable,” he added.
Soon after assembly elections in 2008, Lapang was sworn-in as chief minister, for the fourth term, for just 10 days but resigned as the Congress could not cobble a majority.
Thereafter, a Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) backed United Democratic Party (UDP)-led five-party coalition took office with UDP chief Donkupar Roy as the chief minister, but barely within a year, the coalition was dismissed and the state was brought under president’s rule.
Lapang had engineered dissensions within the coalition and managed to reclaim his job with the help of three Independent ministers of the Roy ministry.
In the 60-member legislature, the Congress has 28 legislators and has the support of 10 UDP members, five Independents and one Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM) legislator. The opposition NCP has 15 legislators.
