March 23, 1998

With the swearing-in of two governments in less than a fortnight, the possibility of a third looms large in Meghalaya.

By Avirook Sen

For a small man, B.B. Lyngdoh, the octogenarian chief minister of Meghalaya, sure packs a punch. Inconsolable after being denied the invitation to form the state government last month as leader of the regional United Democratic Party (UDP), it was hazardous to be within arms distance of the man. As some bystanders and even party workers discovered outside Shillong's Raj Bhavan. Barely a fortnight later, on March 10, Lyngdoh was shaking hands and slapping backs at the Raj Bhavan. He had just taken oath as Meghalaya's second chief minister in 12 days. It was time for the pugilist to turn politician once again: Lyngdoh even gave his arch rival and deposed Congress chief minister S.C. Marak a friendly hug after the ceremony.

Earlier in the day, Marak told the state Assembly that the Congress preferred not to move the motion of confidence. The election for the Speaker had taken place, and the United Parliamentary Forum (UPF) -- a patchwork of parties and Independents sewn together by the UDP -- had won. E.K. Mawlong of the UDP was elected by the narrowest of margins. Marak, who was sworn in by dint of being the leader of the single largest party in a hung Assembly, knew he would have to go.

It had been a harrowing fortnight for the two major political formations in Meghalaya. As UDP Vice-President A.H. Scott Lyngdoh put it, "Anything could have happened." After all, with both groups within touching distance of a majority, it boiled down to keeping the herd together. The Congress had won 25 seats and was the single largest party while the UDP had 20 MLAs in the 60-member House. But as it turned out, only the People's Democratic Movement with three MLAs and one of the five elected Independents supported the Congress, leaving it two short of a majority. The UPF on the other hand had the support of four Independents, the BJP (three MLAs), the Hill State People's Democratic Party (three MLAs) and the lone Garo National Council legislator. For Lyngdoh to be sworn in on March 10, only 31 MLAs were required. Twenty-six of these MLAs became ministers the very next day.

Senior UPF leaders, however, say it took both the carrot and the stick to keep their motley crew under the same umbrella. The Congress had formed a government that lasted five years under the leadership of Marak in 1993 as well -- with just 24 MLAs, one less than its present tally. But this time it could not succeed in alluring even Independents who had been ministers in the 26-member Marak ministry of the 1993-98 period. This was largely because of the emergence of a "third force" in Meghalaya politics: the Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), a small Khasi insurgent group operating in the state. Its argument: though the Khasis are in a majority in Meghalaya, the Garos have always dominated politics. In the 26 years that Meghalaya has been a full-fledged state, it has had a Khasi chief minister for less than five, primarily because of the lack of unity within the tribe.

It took the HNLC to keep the disparate parties together this time. The group had warned wayward elements in the UPF of dire consequences should they cross over to the Congress. Marak had left a number of portfolios vacant as an invitation to these legislators. But Lyngdoh was able to make a similar offer -- without the risk of reprisal from the underground. "Volunteers" were enlisted to herd the requisite number of MLAs to Shillong's Polo Towers hotel. One Independent complained that he could hardly use the toilet without being followed. "Antisocial elements caused my defeat," says Marak.

But while Lyngdoh says he will "have no problems keeping the coalition together", the prospect of yet another swearing-in ceremony in Raj Bhavan in the near future is quite real. Marak showed both grace and guile when he attended Lyngdoh's swearing-in. Over tea, he told one of the Independents in the UPF, "You have been very hard to reach over the last fortnight. Now, at least, we have the opportunity to talk." About what is anybody's guess.

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