SHILLONG: The much-anticipated All-Party Meeting convened by the MDA II Government took place today, but with one glaring absence that everyone is talking about.
The Voice of the People Party (VPP)—the very group that championed the movement to revamp the Reservation Policy—stunned the state by refusing to attend the high-stakes discussion regarding the Expert Committee’s massive report.
While the Secretariat was buzzing with leaders from across the political spectrum, the VPP seats remained empty. Commissioner & Secretary Cyril V D. Diengdoh confirmed to a swarm of reporters that while every other invited party showed up to deliberate on the future of the state, the VPP sent a formal letter stating they would not participate.
When pressed for the “why” behind this shocking boycott, Cyril remained tight-lipped, suggesting that the media take those burning questions directly to the VPP leadership to uncover the real reason behind their withdrawal from a table they fought so hard to build.
Inside the hour-long session, the atmosphere was intense yet productive. This meeting was the fulfillment of a high-stakes promise made by Chief Minister Conrad Sangma back in February 2026, when he first laid the gargantuan, thousand-page Expert Committee report on the table of the State Assembly.
Recognizing that the document is a “heavyweight” filled with complex legal jargon, the Chief Minister personally directed officials to break down the findings into a clear, digestible format for the leaders.
The government pulled back the curtain on the legal and constitutional nuances of the reservation framework, winning unexpected praise from rival parties for its transparency and “clean” approach to such a sensitive issue.
Despite the missing VPP contingent, the government isn’t slowing down.
Diengdoh revealed that full copies of the exhaustive report are being handed out to all parties for a deep-dive study.
The MDA II government has made it clear that they are ready to keep the dialogue moving and will hold even more brainstorming sessions with various groups in the coming days.
