MDA 2.0 government: Meghalaya to have two deputy chief ministers

The National People’s Party (NPP) Chief Conrad K Sangma took oath as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya for the second consecutive term in the presence of the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Sikkim CM Prem Singh Tamang and Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Tuesday at Raj Bhavan, Shillong. 

Under the leadership of Conrad K Sangma as the Chief Minister, the State of Meghalaya is set to have two Deputy Chief Ministers- Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar. 

At Raj Bhawan, Governor Phagu Chauhan administered the oath to the 12-member council of ministers - Amongst the Chief Minister and the two Deputy CMs, Marcuise N Marak, Rakkam A Sangma, Ampareen Lyngdoh, Comingone Ymbon and A T Mondal were among those from the NPP who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers. BJP's AL Hek, UDP's Paul Lyngdoh and Kyrmen Shylla, and Shakliar Warjri of the HSPDP also took oath as ministers.

Also Read: MDA 2.0 government: Meghalaya BJP MLAs to swap roles in the cabinet after 2.5 years

However, the official notification for the list of portfolios of the Cabinet Ministers will come up in the next 24 hours. 

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, Sangma said that there is nothing wrong in having two Deputy CMs but shows a strong representative of the different areas and regions of the State. He further said that this will send a positive message of inclusiveness. 

With the formation of MDA 2.0, he wants to continue to work aggressively and focus on the areas that have been working in the past five years. 

“…primarily to ensure the overall infrastructure improvement is there, we are working very hard towards social sectors, improvement in health and education, social welfare and we are giving a lot of importance to the youth especially when it comes to employment issues and livelihood issues”, said CM Conrad on the main concerns that this government MDA 2.0 will focus on. 

“..the overall delivery mechanism and overall efficiency at the grassroot level is something that needs to be improved. We have improved that in the last five years, the same schemes we are implementing in previous years they are much better in the last five years because of the accountability, the monitoring that we did and we will continue to ensure that the impact at the grassroot level of the different programs and schemes is felt to the maximum level”, added the Chief Minister. 

Replying to a query on how the NPP led MDA 2.0 government will tackle the illegal coal mining, CM Sangma stressed that the government has always maintained zero tolerance towards Coal Mining and steps are taken to ensure no such activities should take place. He also informed that steps to ensure scientific mining in the state are already in process. “We have worked really hard in the last five years and we are almost on the verge of four different groups that received the clearances and their mining plans should be cleared in the next couple of months," he said.