(Combining related stories)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and his cabinet colleagues on Tuesday, officials said.
Sangma, the National Peoples Party chief will take the oath of office as chief minister for the second time on Tuesday after successfully leading his party to a major victory bagging 26 of the 59 seats in the February 27 election.
“All preparations are on for the Prime Minister’s visit tomorrow. He will attend the swearing-in ceremony of the chief minister and his cabinet members at the Raj Bhavan,” a senior government official told PTI.
Security has been beefed up in the city ahead of the visit.
On Monday, Sangma said his party will have eight ministers in the next Meghalaya government headed by him, while its allies will get four ministerial berths.
The NPP’s ally UDP will have two ministers, while the BJP and the Hill State People’s Democratic Party (HSPDP) will get one each, Sangma who is the outgoing chief minister told reporters after a meeting with alliance partners.
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According to the rule, Meghalaya with a 60-member assembly cannot have more than 12 ministers including the CM.
“During the meeting of allies of the NPP-led coalition, the first decision that was unanimously taken was to call it the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance 2.0 since partners are the same. The chief minister will be the chairman of the alliance,” Sangma said.
The distribution of cabinet berths among the coalition partners was also finalised, he said.
“Of the 12-member cabinet, eight will be from the NPP, while two will go to the UDP and one each to the HSPDP and the BJP,” Sangma said.
He said the name of the ruling coalition’s Speaker candidate will be announced after further consultation with allies, he said.
The UDP bagged 11 seats while the BJP, HSPDP, and the People’s Democratic Front (PDF) got two seats each. Besides them, two Independent members also extended support to Sangma.
The newly elected members of the Meghalaya assembly took oath on Monday with pro-tem speaker Timothy D Shira administering the oath of office and secrecy to them.
Fifty-eight newly elected members of the Meghalaya assembly took oath on Monday with pro-tem speaker Timothy D Shira administering the oath of office and secrecy to them.
Shira, the MLA of Resubelpara, was sworn in, as the pro-tem speaker of the assembly, by Governor Phagu Chauhan at the Raj Bhavan on March 4.
Among senior MLAs who took oath as members of the House included Sangma and Prestone Tynsong of the NPP, TMC’s Mukul Sangma, and Metbah Lyngdoh of the UDP.
A special session of the assembly was convened for the swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected MLAs.
The House will again meet on March 9 for the election of the speaker.
