''In a small and sensitive state like Meghalaya, it has become very difficult to accommodate the aspirations of various coalition partners, resulting in instability,'' Mr Lapang said in a memorandum submitted to Congress President Sonia Gandhi last night.
Ms Gandhi, who left this morning for Mizoram, was here yesterday and inaugurated the North East Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, the first super speciality hospital in the region.
He added, ''It would be appropriate that the size of the council of ministers may be increased by necessary amendment of the Constitution (91st Amendment) Act, 2003.'' Mr Lapangs fresh demand for a larger size of the council of ministers assumed significance after elevating state Congress Party president Friday Lyngdoh to the status and rank of a Chief Minister last month to quell the threat to his ministry.
However, the demand for an amendment to the constitution to increase the size of the ministry was nothing new as other Chief Ministers from the region too had made similar demands.
The North East Congress Coordination Committee had urged the Centre and the Congress high command on the need of increasing the size of the ministry from 12 to 20 for the sake of uniformity in the number of council of ministers.
Similarly, various regional political parties of the Northeast were of the opinion that the pruning of the ministry had deprived proper representation of various tribes and communities of the region resulting in political instability.