Meghalaya 2023: Conrad Sangma Takes Oath As CM; PM Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda In Attendance

National People's Party (NPP) leader Conrad Sangma was sworn in as chief minister of Meghalaya on Tuesday along with 11 members of his council of ministers.

Prestone Tynsong and Sniawbhalang Dhar, both from the NPP, took oath as deputy chief ministers, underlining the strength of the regional party in the rainbow coalition which has come to power.

BJP's Alexander Laloo Hek, UDP's Paul Lyngdoh and Kyrmen Shylla, and Shakliar Warjri of the HSPDP also took oath as ministers.

In all seven other MLAs from the National People's Party (NPP), two from the UDP and one each from BJP and HSPDP were also administered the oath of secrecy as members in Sangma's cabinet by Governor Phagu Chauhan at Raj Bhavan.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit attended the swearing in ceremony as did PJP president J P Nadda.

Marcuise N Marak, Rakkam A Sangma, Ampareen Lyngdoh, Comingone Ymbon and A T Mondal were among those from the NPP who were sworn-in as cabinet ministers.

The NPP-led alliance has 45 MLAs including 26 from NPP and two from the BJP.

Earlier, on Monday, 58 newly elected MLAs were sworn in as members of the assembly with pro-tem speaker Timothy D Shira administering the oath of office and secrecy to them.

The elections to the 60-member assembly had thrown up a fractured verdict this time too with the Conrad Sangma-led NPP emerging as the single largest party with 26 MLAs.

The NPP had led the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) that ruled Meghalaya for the past five years since 2018.

The United Democratic Party (UDP), another constituent of the MDA, won 11 seats this time.

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), People's Democratic Front (PDF) and the Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) which were also junior partners in the MDA, won two seats each. 

While the MDA had disintegrated before the elections and all the five partners contested against each other, the NPP and the BJP had agreed to join hands even before the election results were announced.

With inputs from PTI.