Paknga Bage elected as gen secy (org), Dr Mehtab Sangma as natl treasurer, James Sangma as natl working president
Shillong, Mar 15: The National People’s Party (NPP), which has witnessed phenomenal rise in a little over two decades of existence, has re-elected Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K Sangma as the party’s national president for the fourth consecutive term.
Conrad, the son of Purno A Sangma who founded the party in 2013, was re-elected unopposed on Saturday for a tenure of three years till 2018.
He was first elected as the NPP chief in 2016 after his father passed away that year. Subsequently, Conrad was elected to the party’s top post in 2019, 2022 and now in 2025.
In the NPP elections held at Constitutional Club of India in New Delhi, the party elected unopposed former Arunachal Pradesh minister and former state working president Paknga Bage as the general secretary (organisation).
Dr Mehtab Agitok Sangma, first time MLA from Gambegre constituency and wife of chief minister Conrad Sangma, was re-elected unopposed as national treasurer.
Former minister James K Sangma, who was the outgoing general secretary (organisation) and elder son of Purno A Sangma, was elected as the national working president. His name was proposed for the post by NPP Meghalaya state president Prestone Tynsong and NPP Manipur state president Joy Kumar Singh.
Conrad, meanwhile, announced that the members of the National Committee 2025-28 will be announced shortly.
The birth of NPP has an in its roots a massive twist in the career of PA Sangma, who helmed several top offices from chief minister of Meghalaya to the Lok Sabha Speaker, and aspired to become the President of India.
However, Sangma’s bid to the office of President was not supported by his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), which he co-founded after coming out of the Congress opposing “foreign origin” of then party president Sonia Gandhi.
This prompted the political veteran to take a major decision to come back to home politics and form the National People’s Party with a vision of turning it into a national party while being focussed on safeguarding indigenous tribal communities’ interests.
Since its birth, the party has come a long way by being the leading party in ruling coalition since 2018 in Meghalaya, which was earlier known as a highly politically unstable state.
Besides, the party has elected MLAs, including in ruling allies, in some other North Eastern states.
In 2019, NPP became the first party from the region to be recognised as a national party by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
