The expenditure incurred on salaries and other related expenditure on these political appointees has also come down to Rs 3 crore a year from approximately Rs 6 crore previously. During the tenure of former chief minister DD Lapang there were over 100-odd chairmen, co-chairmen and deputy chairmen in different government boards and corporations. Most of them were political appointees. Add to this the 12 cabinet ministers, 14 parliamentary secretaries, assembly speaker, deputy speaker, leader of the opposition and the ruling and opposition chief whips, the politics of accommodation and appeasement in Meghalaya had soared to bizarre heights. There were protests from different quarters on the financial implication and burden on the state exchequer.
A top official in the Main Secretariat here said, "Now we have about 70 political appointees consisting of parliamentary secretaries, chairmen, deputy chairmen. The total expenditure incurred on them is around Rs 3 crore a year. The number of political appointees in the earlier government was about 100."
As soon as Sangma took charge of the chief minister's office on April 21, 2010, he had pledged to slash down on the number of chairmen, their deputies and other political appointees. He managed to downsize the political appointment by 30 per cent, much to the chagrin of many.
It is thought that one of the reasons for some of the Congress MLAs' dissatisfaction with Sangma is that he has consistently refused to listen to their demands of appointing their followers in some of the posts of chairmen and deputy chairmen. This had led them to joining the dissident camp to try and dislodge Sangma.
A bureaucrat said, "When the chief minister refuses to entertain the request of some of his colleagues to appoint their followers in the posts of chairmen and deputy chairmen, he will certainly be risking politically in a state like Meghalaya where governments are toppled at the drop of a hat."
The recent attempt to dislodge the Sangma government by some disgruntled Congress legislators might have its origin in the refusal of the chief minister to accommodate their men as political appointees, a political observer said.