The political reverberations of Meghalaya’s latest cabinet rejig — which saw the ouster of eight sitting ministers — continue to echo across the state, with muted discontent surfacing among pressure groups and political quarters alike. While Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma defended the shake-up as a move towards balance, inclusivity and fairness, calls for a Khasi-Jaintia chief minister have added a combustible layer to the political discourse.
Deputy Chief Minister and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prestone Tynsong pushed back strongly, cautioning that politics should not be communalised.
“Why should we communalise things, I think we should not talk about it,” Tynsong said.
He stressed that leadership in Meghalaya should not be reduced to Khasi versus Garo equations and rejected the idea of polarising the debate along ethnic lines. For him, the key criterion remains that the chief minister must be a legislator from Meghalaya.
“If you say you are bringing in Chief Minister may be from West Bengal, or may be from Bangladesh or may be from Assam, yes I am also deadly against it, but as long as we are in Meghalaya, MLA of Meghalaya, I don’t mind who is the Chief Minister,” he added.
The Deputy Chief Minister has made it clear that the debate should not veer into whether the state has a Khasi chief minister or a Garo chief minister, as long as the position is not claimed by anyone outside the state.
Tynsong reiterated that his personal priority is to safeguard the interests of the state and ensure continuity in development rather than pursue personal ambition for the top post.
“I only want to make sure that development and interest of the state is intact,” he said, making it clear that he did not want to become the chief minister.
He also downplayed murmurs of discontent among those dropped from the council, describing the reshuffle as a routine exercise that happens across governments, a political housekeeping move driven by the chief minister and the party in the broader interest of Meghalaya.
While stating that reshuffling the cabinet is the prerogative of the CM, he said, “We do feel sad for those who have become ‘victims’ of the reshuffle but whatever decision was taken by the CM and the party was for the benefit of the state.”
Meghalaya has not had a Khasi-Jaintia chief minister since 2010, when Mukul Sangma succeeded D.D. Lapang. With Conrad K. Sangma leading the government since 2018, organisations like HITO have projected the reshuffle as a defining moment in his political career. However, Tynsong’s firm stance makes it evident that ethnic fault lines cannot be allowed to dictate statecraft in Meghalaya.
