NPP National President Conrad K. Sangma on Wednesday firmly stated that there is no question of a realignment in Meghalaya’s political landscape. He reaffirmed his party’s commitment to working alongside its MDA coalition partners, emphasizing the importance of maintaining the stability of the state government.
In addition to his political assurances, Sangma highlighted a historic achievement for the NPP. The party has now secured 32 legislators in the 60-member Meghalaya Legislative Assembly, marking a significant milestone. This accomplishment makes NPP the second political party in the state’s history to reach such a landmark, a feat previously achieved by the APHLC in 1972.
Chief Minister and NPP supremo Conrad K. Sangma dismissed any speculation of a political realignment following the party’s strengthened position. Addressing the media, he emphasized, “We are very happy that the NPP today has 32 MLAs and as mentioned correctly that it is only after APHLC that this number by a particular party has come. So we are very thankful and we would like to thank God and thank the people for this confidence that they shown in us.”
Sangma reaffirmed the party’s commitment to stability within the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government, stating, “We have been very clear from day one as a party, as a coalition and as a chief minister, we are here to send a positive message to the people of the state. – yes politics is very complicated, it is very dynamic and there are many factors that comes in us but in the long run I think the message of stability and message of trust and message of confidence is important in politics also and inspite of the fact that we have numbers, we are sticking with our partners.”
“We have shown our confidence in them, they have shown their confidence in us and we would like to see we work in the long run for the stability of the state and overall economic growth of the state. Therefore, there is no question of any realignment or anything like that,” the CM added.
Acknowledging coalition challenges, he added, “There could be challenges within the coalition. There could be differences among political parties, we may not agree on so many things that we would like to do but that’s the nature of a coalition and politics but at the end what we agree on is that we should work together with full commitment for the overall development of the state and that is what is at the centre what we try to do as a coalition. I would like to once again reiterate that our full support as well as our full confidence, question of realignment is not there and all the partners are with us and we will continue to work together,”
The Gambegre by-election, held on November 13, was necessitated by the resignation of former MLA Saleng Sangma, who was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Tura constituency. The NPP’s victory in this by-election further cements its dominance in the Assembly, marking only the second time a party has independently achieved a majority in the state.
The NPP’s trajectory toward this landmark began on May 7, 2023, when two People’s Democratic Front (PDF) MLAs, Banteidor Lyngdoh and Gavin M. Mylliem, merged with the party. This was followed by the defection of three Congress MLAs—Dr. Celestine Lyngdoh, Gabriel Wahlang, and Charles Marngar—on August 19, increasing the party’s strength to 31.
With the addition of Dr. Mehtab Chandee A Sangma, the NPP has solidified its influence in Meghalaya, bolstering the leadership of Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma and affirming its position as a dominant political force in the state.