CM resigns as Tura MP, will take oath as South Tura MLA tomorrow

SHILLONG, SEPT 4: Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma today resigned as Member of Parliament from Tura after he was elected to the tenth Meghalaya Legislative Assembly recently.

The Tura MP who is also the National People’s Party (NPP) national president tendered his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Son of nine-time parliamentarian and former Lok Sabha Speaker Purno Agitok Sangma, Conrad had won the South Tura seat by a huge margin of over 8,400 votes in the just concluded bye-election.

He defeated his closest rival from the opposition Congress Charlotte W Momin by 8,421 votes when he secured 13,656 of 22,000 plus voters of the constituency. Momin however got only 5235 votes.

The chief minister is now all set to sworn in as new South Tura MLA on Wednesday. The oath will be administered to him by the Assembly Speaker Donkupar Roy.

Conrad is leading the NPP-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) government which has the strength of 39 in the 60-member Assembly.

The six-party MDA government comprised of the NPP (20), United Democratic Party (7), People’s Democratic Front (4), BJP (2), Hill State People’s Democratic Party (2), Nationalist Congress Party (1) and three Independents.

Earlier in 2016, Conrad had won the Tura Lok Sabha bye-election by defeating the Congress candidate Dikkanchi D Shira by a whooping margin of over 1.93 lakh votes.

He also took over the reins of National People’s Party (NPP) following the demise of his father.

By Our Reporter