Conrad Kongkal Sangma (born 27 January 1978) is an Indian politician who is the 12th and current

Chief Minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

Meghalaya Meghalaya (, or , meaning "abode of clouds"; from Sanskrit , "cloud" + , "abode") is a states and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. Meghalaya was formed on 21 January 1972 by carving out two districts from the state of As ...

. He assumed presidency of the National People's Party in 2016 after the death of his father who was former Chief Minister, former

Speaker of the Lok Sabha The speaker of the Lok Sabha ( IAST: ) is the presiding officer and the highest official of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India. The speaker is elected generally in the first meeting of the Lok Sabha following general e ...

P. A. Sangma Purno Agitok Sangma (1 September 1947 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. He was the candidate for the 2012 Indian presidentia ...

. He was also the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

from Tura (2016–2018). Conrad is a former

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

in the eighth

Meghalaya Legislative Assembly The Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Meghalaya. Constituted as a directly elected body in 1972, it has 60 members, filled through direct elections held e ...

, representing the NPP from Selsella constituency in the

West Garo Hills West Garo Hills is an administrative district in Garo Hills of the state of Meghalaya in India. Tura town is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district occupies an area of 3714 km². In 2011 its population was 643,291. As ...

. Previously in 2008, Sangma became the youngest Finance Minister of Meghalaya. He served the post as National President of Nationalist Youth Congress, after Jitendra Awhad who is current Housing Minister of Maharashtra State, Nationalist Congress Party is frontal organization of Nationalist Congress Party.

Career

Upon completing his studies, Sangma started his political career in the late 1990s, as the campaign manager for his father,

for the

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

(NCP). He contested his first election in 2004 losing by 182 votes. He was first elected to the State Assembly along with his brother

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...

, both as NCP members in the 2008 state elections and later held several important portfolios in the state cabinet, including the Finance, Power, Tourism, GAD and IT and presented his first annual budget for

within 10 days of debuting as a minister. From 2009 to 2013 Sangma held the post of Leader of Opposition in the

. In March 2016 he was elected national president of the National People's Party (NPP) following his father's death earlier that year. In May that year, contesting from Tura at the by-election to the

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past ...

, he won by a record margin of 1.92 lakh votes.

Chief Minister of Meghalaya

Sangma's party, the NPP, came second behind the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

winning 19 seats at the 2018 Meghalaya legislative assembly election. Requiring 30 seats to form a government in the State, the NPP allied with other regional parties taking the number to 34. Subsequently, Sangma staked claim to form government upon meeting the Governor of Meghalaya

Ganga Prasad Ganga Prasad Chaurasia is an Indian politician who is currently governor of the state of Sikkim and former governor of Meghalaya. He was a member of Bihar Legislative Council and was the leader of the opposition during the RJD regime. He also ...

with a letter of support from the 34

members of the legislative assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

, that included 19 from NPP, six from United Democratic Party, four from People's Democratic Front, two each from

Hill State People's Democratic Party The Hill State People's Democratic Party (HSPDP) is a regional political party active in the state of Meghalaya, northeast India. Formed in 1968 as a split from the All Party Hill Leaders Conference by Hopingstone Lyngdoh, the HSPDP has had rep ...

and

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Modi ...

, and an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, and was declared the Chief Minister-elect. He was sworn in on 6 March, replacing

Mukul Sangma Mukul Manda Sangma is an Indian politician who was Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 2010 to 2018 and is currently leader of the opposition in the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly. He has been a member of the All India Trinamool Congress since Nove ...

who is not related to him. In August 2018, he contested the by-election for the South Tura seat and polled 13,656 votes. Sangma defeated his nearest Congress rival Charlotte W Momin by a margin of over 8,400 votes.

Personal life

Conrad Sangma was born on 27 January 1978 in Tura, a town in

West Garo Hills district West Garo Hills is an administrative district in Garo Hills of the state of Meghalaya in India. Tura town is the administrative headquarters of the district. The district occupies an area of 3714 km². In 2011 its population was 643,291. As ...

. His father

Purno Sangma Purno Agitok Sangma (1 September 1947 – 4 March 2016) was an Indian politician who served as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya from 1988 to 1990 and Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1996 to 1998. He was the candidate for the 2012 Indian presidentia ...

was a former

Chief Minister of Meghalaya The Chief Minister of Meghalaya is the chief executive of the Indian state of Meghalaya. As per the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but ''de facto'' executive authority rests with the chief minister. Following ...

and

, and mother Soradini, a homemaker. His siblings, older brother

and younger sister Agatha, are politicians with the NPP. Another sister Christy, however, has remained non-political. Conrad was brought up in Delhi and was educated at the St. Columba's School there. He received a bachelor's degree in business administration in entrepreneurial management from

Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a Private university, private Ivy League rese ...

, before completing his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

in finance from

Imperial College London Imperial College London (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cu ...

. Sangma married Mehtab Chandee, a doctor by profession, on 29 May 2009, and has two daughters with her: Amara (born ) and Kaiyyan (born 2017). Apart from politics, Sangma has been associated with social work, as president of the PA Sangma Foundation, which functions for the betterment in sectors of education and environment, and also runs four colleges in rural Meghalaya. He also currently serves as President of the Meghalaya Cricket Association and Sports Academy. Conrad Sangma plays the electric guitar and is a fan of the heavy metal band

Iron Maiden Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. While fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harri ...

. In May 2020, he received significant notice for posting on Instagram a video of himself playing the Iron Maiden song "

Wasted Years "Wasted Years" is a song by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden. It is the band's fourteenth single released and the first from their sixth studio album, '' Somewhere in Time'' (1986). It is the only song on the album that features no synthe ...

References

External links

Conrad Sangma bioprofile
at loksabha.nic.in , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Sangma, Conrad 1978 births Living people Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania alumni Alumni of Imperial College London People from Tura, Meghalaya Meghalaya MLAs 2008–2013 Meghalaya MLAs 2018–2023 India MPs 2014–2019 National People's Party (India) politicians Nationalist Congress Party politicians from Meghalaya Leaders of the Opposition in Meghalaya State cabinet ministers of Meghalaya Lok Sabha members from Meghalaya Garo people