LIVE: Conrad Sangma Will be the Next CM of Meghalaya, Says BJP

A five-party alliance cobbled together by the BJP and led by the NPP is set to come to power in Meghalaya, edging out the Congress which had emerged as the single-largest party in yesterday’s results. Sources say NPP leader Conrad Sangma may be the next chief minister, but his sister Agatha Sangma has also emerged as the dark horse. The Grand Old Party, however, is in no mood to suffer the ‘Goa fate’ again, with outgoing CM Mukul Sangma saying the Congress is in talks with “like-minded parties”. The Congress had met the Governor last night and staked claimed to form the government, but is short of majority with no local parties yet offering support.

Himanta Biswa Sarma: Currently, we have 34 members, NPP -19, BJP-2, UDP-6, HSPDP-2, PDF-4 & 1-independent. Number likely to go up. Rahul Gandhi sent four senior leaders of the party to Shillong without any calculations on government formation. I don't see maturity in him.

Himanta Biswa Sarma says that NPP’s Conrad Sangma will be the next chief minister of Meghalaya and no Deputy CM will be appointed in the new government just to please the alliance partners. Talking about the likely cabinet in the state, Sarma says that one MLA out of every two MLAs of all the parties will form part of the government. “So 1 MLA out of the 2 BJP MLAs will be a part of it too,” he says. Minister of state for home Kiren Rijiju also weighed in and said that it is a positive sign that regional parties got together to work for the region. It's people's decisions and we need to respect that, he added.