Meghalaya’s Political Mantra: Too Many ‘CMs’ To Keep Rebels at Bay

By Tilak Rai

This is not the first time that the state has three politicians with CM status, even the previous Donkupar Roy government had three chairmen enjoying the status of chief minister. Rs 1 lakh-plus per month per CM-status is a small price to stave off threat to the present CM and keep ex-CMs in good humor.

Political exigency in Meghalaya props up unusual and sometimes strange solution that might be unheard off or even draw sniggers in other parts of the country. When in the late 1970’s Capt Williamson Sangma and B B Lyngdoh entered into a “gentleman’s agreement” to share the CM’s post for two-and-a-half years each, there were doubts within Meghalaya and outside if these arrangement would work.

But these two “politician gentlemen”, belonging to two different political parties, kept their promise and successfully shared the post for the designated period, which decades later Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati tried to emulate in Uttar Pradesh, but failed.

The latest to draw such political curiosity outside Meghalaya is the elevation of the chairman of programme implementation Friday Lyngdoh, who is also the president of Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee, to the “status” of the Chief Minister. But hold on this is an old hat for Meghalaya as B B Lyngdoh, who waited for Sangma to finish his term as CM before taking over, had been accommodated as the chairman of the State Planning Board in 1978 with the “status of CM”.

However, the difference now is that instead of one politician there are three politicians who are holding the office of chairman of different organizations whose status and privileges have been equated with that of the CM.

Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang has elevated former CMs Donkupar Roy and J D Rymbai who are chairman of State Planning Board and Meghalaya Economic Development Council, respectively. Besides Friday Lyngdoh, these two also enjoy the status and privileges of the CM.

J D Rymbai, who is also the parliamentary party leader of the United Democratic Party (UDP), which is part of the Congress-led Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) coalition government, said: “As chairman with the status of CM, we get security cover and Rs 20,000 monthly salaries.”

However, as Secretariat Administrative Department Principal Secretary P Naik said: “Beside the salary, the CM and his equivalent in status also get other perks.”

These include house maintenance allowance of Rs 20,000, house rent of Rs 10,000, conveyance allowance of Rs 3000, Rs 1,000 for electricity bill, telephone both in office and residence, free medical facilities, a private secretary, one personnel assistant, maximum six casual peons, one government driver, one casual driver. If all this is included, the monthly expenditure of each of them comes to more than Rs 1 lakh per month.

With the downsizing, the Meghalaya Cabinet can have only 12 ministers. The strength of the present MUA is 46 in a House of 60 legislators. The crisis that engulfs Lapang is that he cannot accommodate most of the 34 Congress legislators into his Cabinet as he has given Cabinet berth to two of the eight UDP legislators, the lone Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Party (KHNAM) and two Independent legislators who are supporting his government.

Some of the Congress legislators who are hankering for Cabinet posts are demanding that as the Congress has 34 legislators in the Assembly, Lapang must drop the Independents and KHNAM legislators and accommodate them into the Cabinet.

Lapang, however, does not want to follow that line and to neutralize any threat to him he has elevated Friday Lyngdoh to the status of CM.

Of the 46 legislators in the MUA, Lapang has made 13 Parliamentary Secretaries with the status of Minister of State and the rest chairmen and deputy chairmen of different boards and corporations.

To be fair to Lapang even the previous Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) coalition government of Donkupar Roy had three chairmen with the status of the CM. Those who enjoyed the CM status were State Planning Board (SPB) chairman Purno A Sangma, Meghalaya Economic Development Council (MEDC) chairman J D Rymbai and State Development Reforms Commission chairman late E K Mawlong.

Such elevation of the chairman to the status of CM is either done to stave off threat to the Chief Minister or because the incumbent is a former chief minister and to appease his ego needs to be given the same status as the CM.