M'laya opposition petitions Governor

No confidence fiasco

A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, March 29: tiol People’s Party (NPP) legislator and opposition Chief Whip James K Sangma recently met Governor Keshari th Tripathi at Raj Bhavan at Kolkata and submitted a memorandum on behalf of the Meghalaya People’s Front (MPF) apprising him of the “unethical and unconstitutiol” manner in which the Resolution for removal of Speaker was carried out in the Assembly on March 25.

In the memorandum to Tripathi the MPF said that they were sure that the No Confidence Motion against the Speaker AT Mondal would gain the support of more than the simple majority of the House cutting across party lines.

In the letter to the Governor, the MPF also blamed the Chief Minister, Dr Mukul Sangma for the resigtion of Sanbor Shullai from the post of Deputy Speaker and reconstituting the Panel of Chairmen to ease out Martin Danggo.

The MPF has also urged Tripathi to dismiss the Government headed by Dr Sangma for what the opposition claims making a mockery of the Constitutiol processes in the House.

The memorandum alleged that the Chief Minister pressured the Deputy Speaker to resign, by nomiting his own wife (Dikkanchi D Shira) to the Panel of Chairmen, by protecting his protégé in the Office of Speaker by not allowing a Division in the House on the Motion for Removal of Speaker and “for murdering democracy at all levels”.

The opposition had also requested the Governor not to prorogue the House until justice to the movers of the motion for removal of Speaker is provided by you, failing which, by the competent court.

The MPF also asked Tripathi to direct the Speaker to rescind the acceptance of the resigtion of the Deputy Speaker; restore the old Panel of Chairmen and re-conduct the vote on the motion for removal of Speaker with opportunity to all MLAs to record their vote.

The MPF said that in case the rescission of the acceptance of the resigtion of Deputy Speaker is impossible, to appoint another impartial member of the House, especially an independent MLA, to preside over the proceedings on the motion for removal of Speaker since the office of Deputy Speaker is vacant and Article 180(2) cannot be practiced but only article 180(1).

The opposition also alleged that the Speaker lied when he informed the House March, 24 that he was reconstituting the Panel of Chairmen since the first member in the old Panel of Chairmen, Martin Danggo would not be able to attend the House in view of his medical treatment.

“However, on the 25th March, 2015, Shri Martin Danggo was very well present in the House and participated in the proceedings proving Speaker lied to the House,” the MPF said in its memorandum to Tripathi.