National

Rymbai expands Cabinet

Sushanta Talukdar

Guwahati: Meghalaya Chief Minister J. D. Rymbai on Monday expanded his Ministry by inducting nine more Ministers.

Acting Governor S.S. Sidhu administered the oath of office and secrecy to them at the Raj Bhavan in Shillong on Monday night.

On June 15, a three-member Ministry headed by Mr. Rymbai, who replaced D.D. Lapang as Chief Minister, was sworn in. The other two Ministers sworn in on the same day were deputy Chief Minister Don Kuper Roy, and Martle Mukhim.

Mr. Rymbai returned to Shillong from Delhi on Sunday night after getting Congress president Sonia Gandhi's approval for the members of his team.

After the swearing-in ceremony, Mr. Rymbai announced the appointment of his predecessor Dr. Lapang as Chairman of the Meghalaya Economic Development Council. He will enjoy the status of a Chief Minister, Mr. Rymbai said.

The nine new Ministers are Robert Garnett Lyngdoh, Prestone Tynsong, Elstone D. Marak, Brening A. Sangma, Manirul Islam Sarkar, Irin Lyngdoh, Shitlang Pale, Sengran Sangma and Paul Lyngdoh.

Eight of them are from the Congress while Paul Lyngdoh represents Khun Hyentrip National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), a coalition partner of the Congress-led Meghalaya Democratic Alliance Government. The other two coalition partners — United Democratic Party(UDP) and Meghalaya Democratic Party(MDP) have been represented in the Rymbai Ministry by the Deputy Chief Minister Don Kuper Roy, and Martle Mukhim respectively.

Of the nine Ministers, four including Mr. Rymbai were also in the D.D. Lapang Ministry after the downsizing exercise.

The replacement of Dr. Lapang by Mr. Rymbai had brought to an end the 11-day-long political crisis in the State that began on June 5 when 20 of the 29 Congress legislators boycotted a meeting of the CLP convened by Dr. Lapang at his official residence. Seventeen of them held a parallel meeting on the same day to raise the banner of revolt and demand the resignation of Dr. Lapang.

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