SHILLONG:
Amid speculations that five Trinamool Congress MLAs would likely merge with the BJP, the other opposition parties – Congress and Voice of the People Party (VPP) — are unmoved while asserting that “numbers don’t matter as debates do not depend on the number of members in the opposition.”
“The role of the opposition is to ensure that the government performs, irrespective of the number of MLAs sitting on the opposition bench,” leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) and Mylliem MLA Ronnie V Lyngdoh said on April 21.
According to him, it doesn’t matter if there are more or less members because at the end of the day, if the opposition doesn’t perform its role, then it makes no sense.
Similarly, VPP president and Nongkrem MLA Ardent Miller Basaiawmoit said, “Whatever we have, we will do our job because ultimately, debates don’t depend on numbers.”
To a question on a divided opposition, Basaiawmoit said, “I wouldn’t say the opposition is a divided house because when we are in the opposition, we act as one – when we speak on issues, we speak together. We are only separated by parties.”
Meanwhile, TMC state vice-president and former Umroi legislator George B Lyngdoh, while refuting reports of a possible merger between TMC and BJP, said, “A united opposition would be of great strength and give a good fight to a ruling dispensation but now that we have landed up with such results, everything is in tatters for the opposition. We know this and we have to accept the fact – we didn’t do well and the opposition is divided which we could see since that time.”
Reacting to a question on the absence of a Leader of Opposition (LO), Congress’ Ronnie V Lyngdoh said, “None of us have the required number. TMC, whether they stay or go, has only 5 MLAs, we have 5 and VPP has four. VPP has made it clear they don’t want an alliance and that they want to maintain their separate entity. Until the supposed merger, TMC is still in the opposition.”
When asked if Congress has high chances of producing an LO if TMC moves out, Lyngdoh replied in the affirmative. “We should have an LO so that we can rally around but then again, it doesn’t depend on the LO alone. Even now, if we take everything into consideration, if the Speaker decides to appoint an LO, he should be appointed from Congress because we have our presence everywhere unlike TMC that is present only in West Bengal and Meghalaya,” he added.
Congress has proposed Lyngdoh’s name for the post of LO; if TMC leaves, the Mylliem legislator is all set to become the new leader of opposition.
Reacting to this, the VPP chief said, “TMC is still in opposition; as and when they leave, we will see.”