Meghalaya: 12 Congress MLAs who defected to AITC not subjected to disqualification: Dy CM
Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of Parliamentary Affairs, Prestone Tynsong, on December 8, said that the 12 MLAs who recently defected from the Congress to the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), are not subjected to disqualification.
“If you go as per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, they (12 MLAs) are not subjected to disqualification,” Tynsong told journalists.
He, however, maintained that now the ball is lying in the court of the Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh.
“Because this is the question of interpretation of the Tenth Schedule, therefore, we leave it to the wisdom of the Speaker. Let us wait and see…,” Tynsong added.
His statement came after the Speaker had issued show cause notice to at least 10 of the 12 MLAs following a petition filed by the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh, who sought their disqualification.
When asked if the ruling of the Speaker can be challenged in court, the deputy chief minister however said by convention, the ruling of the Speaker is final.
“If they (Congress) want to challenge they can go to court, there is no question about it as the court is always open but when is the court going to decide that only God knows. As I said this is the constitutional power or right of the Speaker to examine and also ultimately to give his ruling either way,” he said.
Stating that the division in the opposition is not at all healthy, Tynsong said, “If you talk in respect of fighting among themselves and are divided as an opposition group…let us see what will happen in the next budget session. As now from the main opposition, they now become a minority. The Congress is having one five MLAs, so what will be their performance in the House I don’t know so let us see in the budget session to be held in March next year.”
As for the prospect of the AITC in Meghalaya, the deputy chief minister said going by history, it will take lots of time for the new party to convince the people of the state.
“To really make people understand about the ideology, philosophy and objective of a new party, that will take a lot of time,” he said.
Tynsong also outrightly rejected the claim that the entry of the AITC will affect the National People’s Party (NPP) in the 2023 Assembly polls.
“The coming of the AITC to Meghalaya will not affect NPP, but it will surely impact the Congress,” he stated.
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