NEW DELHI, Feb 17 � Amidst yet another power struggle in Meghalaya, Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma has proposed to reshuffle his council of ministry.
A fresh list has been submitted to Congress president, Sonia Gandhi.
Talking to newsmen, the Chief Minister said that he is waiting for clearance of the new list of ministers by the Party High Command. However, he clarified that the pending reshuffle is unlikely to see any new inductions or dropping of ministers. The exercise would be limited to only change of portfolios, he added.
The Chief Minister, who has been camping in the capital for the past four days, said that the exercise is being done to further improve the efficiency of his ministry. This would be the first reshuffle IN nearly a year-old Congress-led coalition government headed by Sangma.
A banner of revolt raised by a group of MLAs against the Chief Minister is suspected to be the prime reason behind Sangma�s latest move to rejig his ministry. A group of around 16 MLAs have petitioned the AICC demanding change of leadership in Meghalaya.
The Congress Party has nine ministers, while UDP has two and an independent in the council of ministry.
Ever since the downsizing of ministry, Meghalaya has been facing political instability. The ruling Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA) government headed by Donkuper Roy collapsed after two independent lawmakers withdrew support to the 11-month-old fragile coalition, reducing its strength in the 60-member legislature to 31 in 2009.
D D Lapang, who took over also had to go to put an end to the lingering political crisis in the state. Mukul M Sangma, was unanimously chosen the chief minister by 21 of 28 Congress legislators, last year.
