his quest for maintaining decorum, dignity and autonomy of the House, earned him the admiration of the nation.
Purno Agitok Sangma, a dignified persona was born on 1 September 1947 in Chapahati village in the pictorial West Garo Hills District of the State of Meghalaya in North East India. From a very early period of his life, Mr. Sangma understood that to rise in life he would have to struggle hard. It is his mother who instilled in him the values of diligence, humility and honesty through which he learned that education was the only way to progress in life. He went to Dibrugarh University in Assam for his Masters degree in International Relations, after finishing his graduation from St. Anthony‘s College. After this, he also obtained a degree in Law.
A man of many trades, Sangma in the course of his vibrant professional life, has had stints as a lecturer, a lawyer and a journalist before he joined politics. His political life commenced as a worker of the Congress Party and his rise through the ranks of the Party has been phenomenal. In 1974, when he became the General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Youth Congress, he also occupied the post of Vice-President of that organisation. He was appointed the General Secretary of the Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee in 1975 in recognition of his dedication to the party‘s ideals.Sangma‘s emergence in the national political scenario occurred when the country was preparing for the Sixth General Elections in 1977. He was elected to the Lok Sabha on a Congress ticket from the Tura constituency in his home State. At that time the nation was going through a major political alteration with the Congress Party losing power at the Center for the first time since Independence. It was indeed an opportune moment for a promising parliamentarian to make his mark and the resourceful Mr. Sangma made full use of the opportunity to make an impact.
As Deputy Minister from November 1980, he shifted to the Ministry of Commerce after two years and held that post till December 1984. Sangma‘s return to the Eighth Lok Sabha was made through the General Elections of 1984. Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister,  recognizing his devotion to the Congress ideals, inducted him into his Cabinet. This time he joined the Cabinet as a Minister of State holding charge of Commerce and Supply. He also occupied the post of Minister of State for Home Affairs for a short while. Mr. Sangma took over the Independent Charge of the Minister of State for Labour in October 1986.
During his tenure as the Labour Minister, it was no wonder then that there was a sharp decline in industrial strikes and lockouts.
He returned to Meghalaya politics in 1988  as the Chief Minister. In this turbulent period in the State‘s political history, he headed a 48-member Coalition Government. 
He guided the formation of a Standing Joint Parliamentary Committee on Empowerment of Women, during his tenure as Speaker, and also the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee for conceiving the Constitution (Eighty-first Amendment) Bill, 1996 which sought to provide for 33-1/3 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies.
One of his views is that the ethical value that ought to saturate the legislative; the executive and the judicial wings of the constitutional system has a deep and lasting impact on the character, direction, credibility and future of democratic governance. An 8-member Study Group of the Committee of Privileges was constituted during Sangma‘s tenure as Speaker, in a move, which won panegyrics from all quarters. The committee was formed in order to report on Ethics and Standards in Public Life.
From 26 August to 1 September 1997, Speaker Sangma took another major initiative. This was the convocation, as part of the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of India‘s Independence, of a Special Session of both the Houses of Parliament. The Session for the future set a National Agenda and took stock of the achievements. In the Indian parliamentary history, opening the Special Session, for the first time the Speaker addressed the House and emphasized the need for a second freedom struggle- ”freedom from our own internal contradictions, between our prosperity and poverty, between the plenty of our resource endowments and the scarcity of their prudent management, between peace and tolerance and the current conduct sliding towards violence, intolerance and discrimination”.
Sangma has been closely associated with various social organizations and educational institutions. He was the Editor of a Meghalaya daily, ‘Chandambeni Kalrang‘. He has also edited two volumes of the book ‘India in ILO‘. The Michael John Roll of Honour of the Tata Workers‘ Union conferred to Sangma an award for “Distinguished Contribution to the Cause of Labour and to the Parliamentary System” in March 1997. In May 1997 he also received the ‘Golden jubilee Award of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) from the President of India, ‘ for contribution to the cause of the working class’.
Sangma later merged his faction with Mamta Bannerjee‘s Trinamool Congress, forming the Nationalist Trinamool Congress after losing a battle for the NCP election symbol.
The Lok Sabha once again with the General Elections of 1998 saw the return of Mr. Sangma. He is still regarded as one of the most communicative and venerable speakers in the Opposition benches, listened to by all with respect and attention.
P. A. Sangma re entered the state politics with CM status in 2008 wherein he was appointed as Chairman of the State Planning Board.