Shillong, Dec. 18: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) today made futile attempts to lodge a complaint against the six breakaway legislators of the party to Meghalaya Speaker Martin Danggo.
Last Monday six NCP legislators formed the Meghalaya Nationalist Congress Party (MNCP) under Cyrpian R. Sangma and later joined the Congress-led government coalition.
NCP state unit president Edmund K. Sangma said all attempts to locate the Speaker went in vain. The NCP members’ protest letter was also not entertained by the Assembly secretariat, Edmund Sangma said.
“It is very unfortunate that our letter is not being accepted. Throughout the day we tried in vain to reach the Speaker whose mobile was switched off and he was neither available at his residence nor in his office”, Sangma said.
He reiterated the NCP’s resolve to have the six defectors disqualified under paragraph three of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
NCP general secretary Purno A. Sangma had sworn last evening to leave no stones unturned to ensure that the “six defectors” are disqualified under the proposed anti defection bill.
Addressing newspersons, Sangma said he was confident that the six MLAs would attract provisions under the anti- defection bill, which he said would be passed unanimously by the both Houses of Parliament.
“The Congress-led government in Meghalaya adopted an unconstitutional policy of inducting four MLAs of the MNCP and it would fall flat”, Sangma said. He has enough time to stall Meghalaya chief minister Lapang in his “gameplan”, he added.
Sangma said, “The Speaker has reserved his ruling and by the time he announces his decision it will be too late. By then Parliament will have already passed the anti-defection bill”, he added.
However, Purno Sangma was surprised that the Speaker was proving elusive. Till late in the evening the NCP functionaries were running from pillar to post to locate him. The Speaker was apparently busy preparing a bulletin where the name of the new party would figure.
The Speaker is likely to accord recognition to the new party tomorrow, it being the last day of the four-day winter session.
Perhaps anticipating the outcome, Purno Sangma today rushed to Guwahati to consult legal experts. Before leaving, the former Lok Sabha Speaker warned that he would not take things lying down and move the Supreme Court if the Meghalaya Speaker gave a ruling in favour of the six breakaway NCP legislators.
Sangma spent most of his time collecting documents pertaining to the developments preceding the formation of the MCNP.
Some NCP legislators pointed out that while announcing the split in the NCP the Meghalaya Speaker did not make any reference to supporting documents mentioning how the NCP had been split.
Sources said Lapang has already planned a major reshuffle to accommodate the four MNCP legislators. Some plum portfolios like power, health, food and civil supplies and forest which were held by legislators of the United Democratic Party (UDP), a coalition partner in the government, would now go to the new MLAs.
