Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma has said that a decision on the portfolios to be allocated to the new minister following Metbah Lyngdoh’s resignation will be taken within a day, with the allocation expected to be announced by Tuesday.
Speaking to reporters, Sangma said he was yet to arrive at a final decision on the portfolio distribution.
“I will be taking the decision in a day or so. Kindly allow me to do that. Once that is done, the decision on what portfolios will be given to him will be made in due course. I have not come to my final conclusion. By tomorrow, I expect that you should be able to know about the portfolios,” he said.
Asked whether the recent political developments marked the end of cabinet inductions, Sangma said he would not rule out further changes, although the government was not expecting any more developments under normal circumstances.
“Politics is always very fragile, and many things keep happening. We never thought that this kind of situation would happen, but it did. So, I do not write off anything. But in a normal circumstance, we don’t expect anything more to happen right now. We expect that this particular government with these particular ministers will complete this term,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister confirmed that three sitting MDCs from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would join the National People’s Party (NPP) on November 4.
“Yes, we will be having three of these sitting MDCs from the TMC who are joining us on the fourth,” he said.
However, when asked whether any TMC MLA would also join the NPP, Sangma said no such communication had reached him so far, adding that the situation would have to unfold.
On questions about whether the government had put pressure on UDP president Metbah Lyngdoh to resign from the cabinet, Sangma categorically denied the allegation and maintained that the decision was entirely Metbah’s own.
“Not at all. To be very frank, sometimes in politics, you have to take decisions which are not always pleasing. Sometimes decisions are very tough. It is not that we want to take those decisions, but based on the situation, we need to,” he said.
Explaining Metbah’s decision, Sangma said the UDP leader had personally met him and expressed his view that, following the departure of 11 MLAs, he felt it was morally inappropriate for him to continue as a cabinet minister.