A Different Sangma to be the Chief Minister

Barring one constituency where polling did not take place due to the death of a candidate, Meghalaya has emerged with a fractured mandate. The INC has repeated its familiar debacle of Manipur by emerging as the party with the single largest majority yet unable to form the government. The NPP is instead poised to form the government with Conrad Sangma as the Chief Minister. This came after Conrad Sangma quickly cobbled together an anti-Congress alliance consisting of the winning candidates from all parties other than the INC, including one independent candidate. Interestingly, the BJP is also a part of this alliance, though they won only two seats, less than the independent candidates.

This new coalition raises several interesting issues. The state parties all fought on the outsider-insider basis. In which case allying with a national party would appear as going back on their principles. However, though the NPP is a ‘national party’, the party founder was none other than Purno A. Sangma. The People’s Democratic Front (PDF) has also not had a cordial relationship with the other state parties as it consists of a large number of defectors from those parties. Another issue is over the role of the BJP. Though the NPP led coalition would have still had its numbers without the BJP, the saffron party has also been included as a member. This is interesting as the BJP was unable to shake off its anti-Christian tag, particularly over the ‘beef issue’.

The inclusion of the BJP seems to point towards the typical equation where in the Northeast, the state governments tend to gravitate towards the party that forms the Union Government. The coalition reveals a hardnosed realpolitik in which gaining power is the only consideration. However, with so many contradictions between the parties involved, how long can this coalition last? The coalition would be the 27th government formed in Meghalaya since 1970. Doing the math while assuming each government was stable, Meghalaya should have had around 9 governments since 1970. Mukul Sangma’s reign as Chief Minister was probably the most stable in Meghalaya’s political history. Now that patchwork coalition is heading the government, one needs to wait and see how long until political infighting begins.

Holding together the coalition will be Conrad Sangma’s biggest challenge. The now former MP will have to stave off infighting if he wishes to deliver on his party’s campaign promise of delivering good governance in Meghalaya. This will also be a test for the NPP as this is the first time the party will be heading a coalition. It supported the BJP led coalition in Manipur, as well as in Parliament. Yet the party has never been in the driver’s seat. If the NPP coalition is able to secure a stable full term in office, the party’s credentials will be proven as an alternative to the mainland based national parties for not only Meghalaya, but the entire Northeast. However, a failure will lead it to being added to the alphabet soup which makes up the politics of the region.