Out of his father's shadow, Conrad Sangma emerges as Chanakya of Meghalaya

Conrad K Sangma, who was sworn-in on Tuesday for a second term as the chief minister of Meghalaya, has come a long way, emerging from the shadows of his better-known father Purno Agitok Sangma, as a consummate politician in his own right.

Sometime before elections were announced, Conrad realised two things — firstly the powerful Congress which had bested him in the last elections, had been reduced to a rump by the unexpected defection of former CM Mukul Sangma. Secondly, despite Mukul Sangma’s personal charisma, people in the hills of Meghalaya remained suspicious of new parties such as the Trinamool Congress and of leaders they did not know too well, coming in from outside the state and campaigning.

Also read: Meghalaya: Conrad Sangma-led 12-member coalition ministry sworn in

Fought anti-incumbency

Party associates say this gave him the hope and a strategy for retaining power despite anti-incumbency and various allegations of corruption levelled by his opponents against his government. He shrugged off the tie-up with BJP, which too seems to have been viewed largely as a party of outsiders by people in Meghalaya, even though his party remained part of the NDA and went into the electoral battle alone.

His shrewd calculation was proven right. By focusing on a campaign which stressed on the local roots of his party, he managed to win 26 seats as against 19 in the last election and improved his vote share from less than 21 per cent to over 31 per cent.

However, realising that the magic figure of 31 MLAs which gives a stable majority in the legislature may still elude him, he held out the olive branch to other parties especially the BJP, from which he probably expects not just the support of two MLAs but also assistance from the Central government.

Also read: New Meghalaya cabinet to have 8 NPP ministers: Conrad Sangma

Astute networking

His astute networking helped build a rainbow coalition which took in almost everyone including UDP and HSPDP as well as independents to give him the support of three-fourths of the legislative assembly. That is, everyone, except his principal rival Mukul Sangma who heads the TMC in the state.

The Mamata Banerjee-led party managed to secure nearly 14 per cent of the popular vote despite getting just five seats and the Congress, from which his father had broken off, which too remained popular securing over 13 per cent votes and five seats. Had the Congress not faced Mukul Sangma’s defection, the story could have been different. But then that as political pundits say, is a “tale of ifs and buts”.

The first election that the US and UK-educated Conrad Sangma fought in 2004 had resulted in a narrow defeat. However, since then, the 45-year-old has emerged as a powerful politician in his father’s mould, growing stronger with every election.

Also read: Meghalaya: Conrad Sangma stakes claim to form government

Stitching coalition

Despite the fact that his NPP won 19 seats in the 2018 assembly elections, two less than the Congress which had the largest number of MLAs, Conrad had even then managed to stitch a coalition with several other parties including the BJP to form the government.

The journey to the position which Conrad has attained, where he was able to not only repeat but improve his old game of coalition politics, with more power in his hand, has been long but certainly a rewarding one.

This time around not only did he get almost every political bigwig in Meghalaya on his table, he also disregarded the barbs of running the “most corrupt” government and made the right phone calls to both the BJP’s pointsman in the Northeast, Assam CM Himanta Sarma, and to the powerful Union Home Minister, Amit Shah.

At the same time, Purno Sangma’s son saw to it that his primacy remained underlined by insisting that the lion’s share of cabinet berths and both the deputy chief minister’s slots went to his party comrades.

(With Agency inputs)