Shillong, May 23: Former Meghalaya chief minister Flinder Anderson Khonglam, who had the distinction of being the country's first Independent MLA to occupy the post, passed away in a city hospital here yesterday after a brief illness.
He was 67. The former legislator representing Sohra constituency in East Khasi Hills district breathed his last at Bethany Hospital in the evening, shortly after he was brought there, doctors said.
He became the first independent MLA to occupy the chief minister's office anywhere in the country, when he was sworn in on December 8, 2001 and occupied the post till March 3, 2003.
A surprise choice for the chief minister's post, Khonglam had led a record number of 42-membered coalition ‘Peoples Forum of Meghalaya' (PFM) government.
The eldest among eight children, Khonglam was born to Richard N Lyngdoh and L Khonglam on February 6, 1945 in Malki here.
An MBBS degree holder, Khonglam successfully contested assembly elections in 1983 but lost in 1988. Five years later, he won again and remained the Sohra MLA till 2008.
A stoic and determined politician, Khonglam not only emerged as a coalition expert but also was a master of the art of tightrope walking a delicately balanced political situation, if the crises he successfully faced during his very short tenure as chief minister are to go by.
A loyalist of NCP national general secretary P A Sangma, he, however, got embroiled in many controversies and corruption charges.
