Mukul Sangma
Shillong, May 10 : Congress president Sonia Gandhi is likely to announce her decision regarding change of leadership in Meghalaya tomorrow, after she meets AICC leaders and PCC functionaries.
A majority of the 18 dissident leaders, including three ministers, and the man in the middle of controversy, chief minister Mukul Sangma, are camping in Delhi awaiting the verdict.
The dissenters have accused Sangma of a dictatorial and autocratic style of functioning, saying the chief minister hardly consults his colleagues on important matters.
“The AICC leadership will soon decide the fate of the chief minister and we are hopeful that a change is imminent,” a legislator said.
Meghalaya PCC working president Deborah Marak is already in Delhi while PCC president Friday Lyngdoh is scheduled to reach tomorrow.
A senior dissident Congress legislator today claimed that during their stay in Delhi, they have met several top AICC leaders and apprised them of Sangma’s style of functioning.
A few legislators today claimed to have spoken to Union home minister P. Chidambaram about Garo National Liberation Army militants sending text messages to Garo hills legislators asking them to support the chief minister.
The legislators urged Chidambaram to direct the state government to provide security to the MLAs concerned.
Though the reasons for the leaders’ discontent were many, Shillong MP and Union minister of state for water resources Vincent Pala tried to make sense of the oust-the-chief-minister syndrome that the Meghalaya Congress has been notorious for.
He said the primary reason for the constant demand for change in leadership was the small 12-member ministry in Meghalaya in a House of 60.
“We have taken up the matter with the central leaders, including the Prime Minister and UPA chairperson to increase the strength of the ministry to at least 18 in Meghalaya,” Pala said.
Fewer ministerial berths in small states in the Northeast is the main reason for political instability, he said.
The Constitution should be amended so that the problems of political instability of the small states can be addressed, he added.
The Union minister also supported the chief minister for his performance in the past year.
There has been a lot of development under Sangma in the past one year and funds from the Centre have been fully utilised for various projects, he said.
“Sangma has been able to bring more funds from the Centre to carry out development work,” he said.
“I am yet to know what the dissidents actually want, as I have not received any memorandum from them. None of the dissidents met me. The issue will be discussed by the AICC leaders,” the Union minister said.
According to Pala, AICC leaders Dhaniram Shandil and Sanjay Bapna, who had assessed the political situation in the state, will submit their findings to the AICC president.