Problem for Meghalaya chief minister Mukul Sangma seems to be far from over as on Tuesday he dropped four ministers and inducted three new faces in his council of ministers in an obvious attempt to quell the dissidence.
It, however, failed to placate dissident camp, said to have been led by veteran Congress leader and former chief
minister D.D. Lapang, which remained defiant and claimed the support of 18 out of 28 members of the Congress Legislature Party .
Earlier, Megahalaya governor R.S. Mooshahary administered the oaths of office and secrecy to the newly-inducted ministers at a simple function organised in the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.
Mr Sangma had proposed to induct four Congress legislators — S.W. Rymbai, Shitlang Pale, Saleng Sangma and Bharatiya Janata Party leader-turned-Congress legislator Alexander Hek — to counter his opponent within the party.
However, only three of the legislators turned up to take oath, Mr Rymbai could not take oath due to his health.
Though, Mr Lapang was not available for his reaction, his supporters in the CLP said that they will continue to press for the removal of Mr Sangma opposing his alleged “autocratic style of functioning”.
The crisis started on Monday when chief minister soon after his return from New Delhi sacked four Cabinet ministers Prestone Tynsong, Frankenstein W. Momin, Augustine D. Marak and Founder Strong Cajee, who have demanded Mr Sangma’s ouster as chief minister.
One of the ministers who was dropped on Monday Frankenstein W. Momin said, “The reshuffle of the Cabinet is the last attempt of Mr Sangma to defend himself. Our fight to remove him from the chair has started now. We have lost our faith in his leadership.” The legislators who helped Mr Sangma in removing Mr Lapang in 2010 are now out to replace him again by Mr Lapang.
Mr Sangma is the fourth chief minister since the 2008 Assembly elections, having replaced veteran Congressman D.D. Lapang.
If insiders are to be believed leadership crisis in the frontier state is going to continue.