Mukul Sangma skips session after raising query on political appointments
Shillong, Feb 21: Repeated absence among some of the senior elected legislators from the opposition benches in the current budget session of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly is raising questions about their seriousness as public leaders to voice the people’s issues on the floor of the house.
On day four of the budget session, Opposition TMC leader and former Chief Minister Mukul Sangma, representing Songsak constituency, had a starred question that became lapsed by the Speaker of the House, Thomas A. Sangma, due to the former’s absence from the house when his query was supposed to be taken up.
Mukul Sangma was to query Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma on the issue of political appointees made by the government.
Earlier, on the third day of the session, even the Voice of the People Party (VPP) MLA from North Shillong, Adilbert Nongrum, who had been present for the entire session, surprisingly left the house when his starred question was to be taken up.
The VPP MLA was to raise a question on alleged manhandling of their Malwai MLA Brightstarwell Marbaniang by police personnel during a recent protest held by their party over removal of Meghalaya Lokayukta officials.
Interestingly, VPP-elected MLAs have repeatedly been raising questions about the limitations of time during session hours and had even taken to the streets to register their protest.
In a recent meeting at Mawlai, VPP MLA Adilbert Nongrum had publicly announced that he would raise the alleged manhandling case on the floor of the house.
Surprisingly, when the matter did come up for discussion in the assembly, Adilbert Nongrum was conspicuous by his absence.
The division among the opposition benches was also visible on Tuesday when Adilbert Nongrum had tabled a Private Members Bill to amend the existing Meghalaya Lokayukta Act. Almost half of the opposition members from the house were found absent including the VPP’s very own MLAs, president Ardent M. Basaiawmoit and Mawryngkneng MLA Heaving Stone Kharpran.
In anticipation of such scenes, Leader of Opposition (LO) and Congress legislator Ronnie V. Lyngdoh, wrote letters to other opposition parties ahead of the session to work together during the assembly session.
But the opposition VPP has chosen to function independently, indicating its intention to work with other opposition parties only on certain issues.
