Shillong: Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other Union Ministers are expected to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the new National People’s Party-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) – 2.0 government here at the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday.
Assam Chief Minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Chairman Himanta Biswa Sarma and other Chief Ministers of other North Eastern States are also expected to participate in the mega ceremony in which Conrad Sangma will take oath as Meghalaya chief minister for the second consecutive term.
This is the first time that any Prime Minister will attend the swearing-in ceremony of a new cabinet in the state.
Chief Minister-designate and NPP supremo Conrad Sangma convened a meeting of the alliance partners and it was unanimously decided to name the new government MDA-2.0. Sangma was also elected the Chairman of the MDA-2.0 alliance.
The MDA-2.0 consists of NPP (26), 11 members from United Democratic Party (UDP), two members each from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), People’s Democratic Front (PDF), Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) and two Independents.
With the new alliance, the MDA-2.0 government now has the support of 45 MLAs, almost ¾ of the present strength of the assembly with 59 members.
Sangma said the meeting also decided that the NPP would have eight ministers in the cabinet, two from the UDP 2 and one each member from the BJP and HSPDP.
The PDF and the independents have been left out of the cabinet.
“Out of these 12 cabinet berths, four including the chief minister will be from the Garo Hills region and 8 of the cabinet ministers will be from the Khasi and Jaintia Hills regions,” the Chief Minister-designate said.
Sangma handed over the list of probables to Governor Phagu Chauhan on Monday afternoon for induction in the MDA- 2.0 ministry.
Further, the NPP chief informed that a resolution was also passed within the party regarding the candidature for the Speaker’s post and the election.
“The NPP has proposed the name and they have entrusted me to speak to the rest of the coalition partners to formalise the name and once I have spoken to the coalition partners and get their consent, we will be announcing the name of the candidate for the Speaker’s post,” Sangma said.
The election for the post of Assembly Speaker will be held on Thursday (March 10) and followed by vote of confidence.
In the opposition, there would be the Congress and TMC with five members each and the Voice of People Party with four legislators.
