Skip to content Skip to navigation

All out in nine days

It was in Meghalaya, a nine days drama in power. The recent Assembly elections did not give a clear mandate to any political party. The Hung House compelled the political rivals to forge alliances, which came into existence in the form of Meghalaya United Alliance (MUA) led by the Congress Party and the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance (MPA), a combination of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), United Democratic Party (UDP) and others. Both the alliances claimed to form the government and approached the Governor, S.S.Sidhu with their claims. Since the Congress Party was the largest single party with 25 members, it was allowed to form the government and prove the confidence of the House within 10 days time. The plea of the MPA was rejected, even after parading 31 members before the Governor.

The MUA government under the leadership of D D Lapang, took oath of the office on March 10. He could manage support of only 28 members, including three Independents. He tried his best to manage the majority even after the help of his party colleagues from the state of Assam, who approached to help him at a time of crisis. With his confidence of winning the 'power game', he even advanced the time for seeking the confidence vote by one day. But all in vain. The heavy weights from Assam could not be of much help to him. Lapang felt very uneasy since the morning of March 19. Ultimately, he decided to resign and so he did. He was all out just in nine days. The same evening MPA government under the leadership of Donkupar Roy, took oath of the office. It may be mentioned here that there is a clear understanding between the NCP and the UDP to share the power for half the period of the government. Next half period would be run by NCP.
Author info

Daya Nath Singh's picture

Journalist; Guwahati Press Club office Secretary

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

BJP MLA to ' retire' from party

12 Jul 2020 - 8:35pm | AT News
Guwahati: BJP MLA from Hojai Shiladitya Dev will quit the ruling party on Tuesday alleging utter in discipline inside the party.  Dev told media on Sunday that utter in discipline would put...

Curfew reimposed in Golaghat

22 Aug 2014 - 9:31am | AT News
 Curfew reimposed in parts Golaghat on Friday after six hours of relaxation from 6 in the morning. People in the trouble torn district came out of their homes for shopping after three days of...

Nagaland scribes’ concern

9 Sep 2017 - 10:31pm | AT News
The Nagaland Press Association (NPA) is shocked to learn about the assassination of Gauri Lankesh, a senior journalist and Editor of the weekly *Gauri Lankesh Patrike* – a magazine which has been...

Massive fire in Guwahati

7 Jan 2013 - 9:46am | editor
Properties worth several lakh have been reduced to ashes when a massive fire broke out in Guwahati on Monday. Initially, the fire broke out at a shop in Junali area which later spread to the...

Other Contents by Author

Gamusas and Japis are two important items in Assam, which are in much demand throughout the year in the state especially during festival seasons and social functions. These items are demanded by the people to honor the guests and honorable persons during each and every event.  However, it has been found that throughout the festival seasons the supply of locally woven gamusas are not according to demand by the customers. The reason behind it is said to be heavy cost of the locally produced items. On the other hand the weavers and traders from other parts of the country take advantage of supplying gamusas at cheaper rates and make more profit despite spending heavy cost on...
Archaeological Survey of India, Guwahati circle, has been trying to take-up the work of repairing of a broken pillar in the Mandap of Hayagriva Madhav Temple at Hajo for a long time. ASI, Guwahati has informed the media through a press note that one of the pillars of ancient temple was broken in three parts due to rusting of the iron dowels holding each other and the other developed cracks due to the same reason and widened more after the earthquake of May 2015. Hayagriva Madhav Temple is a reconstructed temple during the Koch period. The architectural parts of the earlier temple have been used for reconstruction. Different parts of the temple have been used randomly for making the pillars...
There is a generation gap between the signing of Assam Accord on the Independence Day 1985 and the present generation has to face new challenges to compete with the world class people in all spheres of development. The young people are confused over the airing of old issues which have lasted for long 31 years in absence of any solution. The issues pertaining to the Accord have become irrelevant under the present circumstances. The Assam Accord issue is still haunting and confusing the present generation due to absence of a clear picture. The fate of the Accord is not known to the people in general. A few politicians and intellectuals are trying to raise the issues of the accord from time to...
It is an established fact that a person involved in political activities cannot remain in peace till his cherished dreams are fulfilled. This can be noticed through the recent statements of former Assam chief minister, Tarun Gogoi, who has been expressing his views frequently in media against the four months old BJP-led alliance government in the state under the chief minister ship of Sarwanand Sonowal.  He (Gogoi) dares to demand a ‘white paper’ from state government about the steps taken by it to clear the encroachments of forest and other government  lands in the state and also to let the people of the state know, what action it has taken to identify and deport the foreign...
Addressing a huge gathering of residents of Udaypur, Jonakpur and Birubari at Udaypur Kali Mandir complex on Sunday, July 3, 2016, East Guwahati Assembly Member, Siddharth Bhattacharjee, emphasized the need of implementing the vision document of development as envisaged by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at the function organized by Udaypur Yuva Sangha to felicitate him on his success in the recently concluded polls to the state Assembly, he conveyed his thanks to the people of the area for showing their confidence in him. He assured the people that he would not let their confidence go in vain. The meeting was presided over by Dr Phani Borah. Senior citizen of the locality Kartik...
Hardly a few days ago, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Alliance has taken the reign of Assam administration the results of efforts made by Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal under the guidance of PM Narendra Modi to bring back black money to the state coffer, has started recently with the arrest of Dhemaji Divisional Forest Officer, Mahat Chandra Talukdar by anti-corruption department. For a long time the reports of wildlife crimes were in the air, but the previous state administration ruled by Congress Party under the three-terms  leadership of Tarun Gogoi did not try to take any action. The former Chief Minister Gogoi was under a wrong impression that the people who gave him a...
A study conducted by B Boruah Cancer Institute, Guwahati, has revealed that during a decade from 2001-02 to 2011-12, cancer cases in the north-eastern part of the country have gone up from 5,404 to 8,708. A campaign, namely, Cycle 4 ride can help control this dreaded disease. In order to raise awareness to fight cancer a lady, namely, Marcellna Sangma, is going to lead a Biker Mission to 600 kms long stretch from Guwahati to Bum La Pass, near Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh. The ride is scheduled to be flagged off by Dr Amar Chandra Kataki, Director, B Boruah Cancer Institute, on April 21, 2016.Expressing her traumatic experience with cancer, Sangma, who was a cancer patient a decade...
Being disturbed since the first phase of polling for Assam Assembly on April 4 last, the Assam Chief Minister, Tarun Gogoi is finding it difficult to remember the history of Assam agitation propelled by All Assam Students Union (AASU) since the year 1979 to the Independence Day of 1985, resulting in the Assam Accord which was signed between the Assam Government and the movement leaders in presence of erstwhile prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. Heavy polling beyond 85 percent of the electorate in the second phase also made Gogoi to think over the majority of young and new voters were not the ‘beneficiaries of getting blankets, yarn and mosquito nets’. They are young, energetic, literate and...
Continuing campaigns for Assam Assembly elections have confused the Assam intellectuals to raise vital issues before the future state legislators and improve the quality of political atmosphere affecting the entire society for quite some time. Almost all political parties have started ‘derogatory’ comments against their rivals for attracting the electorates by their acts and objectives about which they are themselves ignorant. The main reason behind such interpretation is lack of knowledge about the real issues on which the political parties are campaigning. Assam as a state of multi-lingual and religious people continued to be disturbed since the year1979, when several organizations under...
Long awaited North East Graduate Congress, an initiative of Education Research Development Foundation (ERDF) is going to be held from February 26 to 28, 2016. This is the only graduate congress in India being organized by University of Science and Technology, Meghalaya (USTM) in association with RIST and supported by the State Bank of India (SBI). The venue of the congress is the USTM campus at 9th mile, Khanapara. Addressing the media persons in Guwahati on February 14, 2016, the USTM spokesperson informed that the three days congress is aimed to enhance all round development and bring out the capabilities of future graduates through various life skill processes to bring out  their...