Meghalaya Governor S S Sidhu has not done a service to his gubernatorial position with his dubious action of swearing in Congress leader D D Lapang as chief minister last Tuesday for a fresh term in office. The Governor has got his arithmetic wrong. To him, 25 is a number that is larger than 31! How else could he have invited Lapang to form the new government over the rival claim of newly formed Meghalaya Progressive Alliance's (MPA) Donkupar Roy? The Congress did emerge as the single largest party in the 60-member state assembly as 25 members were elected to the new assembly on its ticket. Lapang, who instantly staked claim to form a new government, was not able to prove he enjoys the backing of over 25 members. But the MPA, a post-poll grouping of five parties and a couple of independent legislators, demonstrated before the Governor a combined strength of 31 MLAs that constitutes a simple majority.
Sidhu has sought to justify his partisan action on the ground that the MPA is a post-poll alliance. The scenario thrown up by the hung verdict is such that no party or pre-poll alliance can demonstrate the requisite number of 31 MLAs without seeking post-poll alliances. The Governor has also justified his preference for installing the Lapang-led Congress government on the plea that the Congress had emerged as the single largest party. In a hung verdict situation, the single largest party criterion is applicable only so far as inviting political leaders for post-poll consultations on government formation, and not to extend the invitation to form a government.
In the process, it did not matter to Sidhu that the MPA paraded before him 31 legislators. He obviously succumbed to political pressure from the ruling Congress in Delhi and failed to discharge his Constitutional responsibility in a fair and impartial manner. The least he could have done is to buy for himself and his Congress beneficiary some more time on the plea of convincing himself of the MPA's ability to provide a stable government - with hopes that MPA could come unstuck. But Sidhu did not even bother to give his partisan action a cover of decency. He gave Lapang an incumbency advantage, presumably to help the chief minister to dangle plum posts to attract legislators from the MPA ranks. Expect days of murky politics in Shillong, thanks to Sidhu.
