Admitting that he has 'lost majority' in the Congress Legislature Party, Meghalaya Chief Minister D D Lapang on Sunday said he is ready to quit, paving the way for his deputy Mukul Sangma to take over the reins.
The flood situation in the Garo Hills areas of Meghalaya has remained grim for the second day while the death toll has mounted to 27. As per preliminary data, damage to infrastructure caused by the devastating floods in the Garo hills area is about Rs 1,000 crore.
An encounter was underway on Thursday between security forces and Garo militants responsible for the gruesome killing of a tribal woman after molestation and attempted rape, in South Garo Hills district in Meghalaya.
Five migrant labourers were shot dead and few others were injured when suspected tribal militants indiscriminately fired upon them in a mining village in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills district, police said on Tuesday.
'Human society is a conflict-prone society... You cannot have complete peace of the graveyard... Switzerland had 500 years of peace and what did they produce? The Cuckoo Clock... Italy had always been in turmoil and they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance.' Meghalaya Governor Ranjit Shekhar Mooshahary, a former head of the BSF and NSG, in a rare and candid interview with Rediff.com's Archana Masih.
The DGP said police had taken this step after getting information from outside sources. He, however, refused to confirm Tanbir having links with the Al-Qaeda network.
NHRC issued the directions on the basis of media reports about the firing in Tura and Williamnagar on September 30.
Love Storiyaan comes alive in the courageous and fearless voice of six spirited romantics speaking direct dil se, applauds Sukanya Verma.
Eight migrant coal mine labourers were killed and three others injured in an attack by miscreants on their camps in a remote mining village in Meghalaya's South Garo Hills, triggering an exodus, police sources said on Monday.
Official sources said Kakodkar will meet Chief Minister Donkupar Roy and other government officials, besides conveying the Centre's views to the anti-mining groups, including political parties in the ruling coalition like the Hill State People's Democratic Party and Khun Hynnieutrip National Awakening Movement.
Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma retained the key departments for his National Peoples Party, and gave the lesser politically significant ones to alliance partners Bharatiya Janata Party, Hill State Peoples Democratic Party and United Democratic Party as he allocated portfolios on Thursday.
The PIL filed by Aditya N Prasad also sought a direction to the Centre and other authorities concerned to prepare a standard operating procedure for rescue operations in mining.
Its candidate Jopsimon Phanbuh defeated her nearest rival Sanbor Shullai of the NCP.
Official sources in Shillong said that the bandh called by the HNLC, which launched an armed revolution demanding a 'separate homeland' for the Khasi tribe in Meghalaya, has affected road services to Shillong from Guwahati and other parts of Assam.
Bright dreams of a new journey, desperation to stage a comeback and desire to rediscover old glory will be the dominant themes of this season's Ranji Trophy that begins at various centres across the country from Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Deputy PM Richard Marles will be among the key personalities who are expected to attend the ICC Cricket World Cup grand finale
The Congress's loss in the three states in the North-East, a region it had dominated for decades, shows there is a lot left to do to reclaim its political turf despite the Bharat Jodo Yatra which it had touted as a successful experiment in mass public outreach.
In a scathing attack on Presidential candidate P A Sangma, Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma on Monday questioned his claim of representing the tribals in the Presidential poll saying the former Lok Sabha speaker "can't behave like a rogue element".
Meghalaya's opposition National People's Party on Monday renewed its demand for resignation of Congress Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma's for alleged 'nexus' with Garo tribe militant outfit A'chik National Volunteer Council-Breakaway and institution of a Central Bureau of Investigation or the National Investigation Agency probe into the allegation.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said he does not get 'intimidated' and fights for truth even if the world stands against it, remarks that come amid repeated confrontations between his party and the Himanta Biswa Sarma-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Assam during the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
Police informed that a police team led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Raymond Diengdoh cordoned a hideout of the banned Hynnewtrap National Liberation Council at Paham Umdoh village early Wednesday morning. On being surrounded, the ultras opened indiscriminate fire, injuring the DSP seriously. In the ensuing gun battle, one militant was killed while two others were arrested. Rest of the group managed to flee.
Projects about to be completed include the first rail connectivity projects in Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, along with crucial gauge conversion between Rangpara and North Lakhimpur, which would connect Arunachal Pradesh to the rest of the country.
'If such a practice were feasible, every state would seek additional funds, posing a significant risk to the overall health of the economy.'
Former Lok Sabha speaker P A Sangma's daughter Agatha Kongkhal will be the Nationalist Congress Party candidate for the May 22 by-election to Meghalaya's Tura Lok Sabha seat. Sangma has never lost from the Tura parliamentary seat since 1977, even though he changed his party affiliation from the Congress to the Trinamool Congress and then to the NCP.A law graduate registered with the Delhi Bar Council, Agatha has a string of degrees.
As the two parliamentary constituencies in Meghalaya, Tura and Shillong go to polls on Wednesday, the glare will be on Tura constituency where former Lok Sabha Speaker and eight-time Lok Sabha member Purno A Sangma, 66, of the National People's Party is fighting the most crucial election in his life against Congress greenhorn Daryl Williams Ch Momin, 27, in a straight contest.
The northeastern state has witnessed change of guard six times in the last five years.
Rahul Gandhi's yatra was marked with high drama on Monday as he was denied permission to visit the Sri Sri Sankardeva Satra in Nagaon district and also from holding a meeting in the Morigaon district, triggering a strong reaction from the Congress leader who protested and asked whether Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now 'decide who will visit a temple and when'.
Against the backdrop of the violent clashes with villagers from Meghalaya, the Assam cabinet on Wednesday decided to hand over the investigation to CBI, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The 'ethical voting' campaign launched by the Election Commission of India has pulled big crowds in rural as well as urban centres of Garo hills areas under Tura parliamentary constituency in Meghalaya in the run up to the polling that is being held on Wednesday.
Laws, he said, are meant to facilitate justice for the common people and not trouble them. They are meant to prescribe certain mechanisms to ensure that the life of common people is as normal as possible.
Congress nominee and Meghalaya Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Friday won the by-poll to Laitumkhrah constituency defeating the United Democratic Party candidate Malcolm Tariang by a margin of 2,327 votes.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday tried his hand in beating Khasi traditional drum as he wound up his two-day visit to Meghalaya.
BSF jawans on Thursday fired in the air and detained a BDR personnel who along with several others tried to intrude into Indian territory in Meghalaya.
What some of our leaders were up to on the weekend.
Assembly elections in Tripura will be held on February 14 and in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 23 and their results will be out on February 28, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Trouble began in both the places after people, including activists of Garo Students Union, gathered for a rally defying prohibitory orders on the Meghalaya Board of School Education issue.
Mukul Sangma was on Friday re-elected as the leader of the Congress Legislature Party and is set to become the 23rd chief minister of the state. The Congress, which won 29 seats, two short of an absolute majority, held its first CLP meeting at a hotel in Shillong.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
Women politicians bring to politics and policy a sensitivity that most of their male counterparts, at least until a generation back, lacked.
