SHILLONG: The Congress-led MUA-II Government is yet to appoint a successor to Sanbor Shullai, who had resigned as Deputy Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly two days ahead of the no- confidence motion against Speaker A.T. Mondal on March 25.
A Congress leader on Thursday said that the MUA-II members were yet to sit to decide on the matter.
Though it was reportedly a pre-plan of the MUA-II Government in asking Shullai to step down to pave way for the defeat of the no-confidence motion against the Speaker, Shullai had denied this and claimed that he was stepping down for personal reasons.
In the past, Shullai had denied that he had been asked by the chief minister to resign from the post.
Shullai was supposed to chair the session during the discussion on the no-confidence motion against the Speaker.
Sources, however, said that the MUA-II Government led by Mukul Sangma wanted to ensure that there were no loopholes in the ruling by the person who chaired the session on the no-confidence motion and that the chief minister had considered that the deputy speaker would not have been able to tackle the tactics of the Opposition especially if the question of secret ballot arose.
According to sources, since the government did not want to face any embarrassment on the issue of the no-confidence motion, the deputy speaker had been asked to step down and subsequently Congress legislator Martin M Danggo, who was a critic of the chief minister, was also not given preference to chair the session though he was number one in the list of panel of chairpersons.
Contrary to the expectations of the government, Danggo, who was declared ill by the Speaker on March 24, attended the session on March 25, the day the no-confidence motion was listed, which had evoked criticism from the Opposition members who devoted more time to discuss Danggo’s presence in the Assembly than the no-confidence motion against the Speaker. The Opposition’s plea for Danggo to chair the session also went in vain.
Finally, Ronnie Lyngdoh, a staunch loyalist of the chief minister, chaired the session and successfully ensured defeat of the motion by voice vote.
Incidentally, though Shullai had said that he had discussed his resignation with party functionaries in New Delhi, his supporters were none too happy with his sudden decision. When the Speaker announced the resignation of the Deputy Speaker in the Assembly, another NCP legislator Marthon Sangma indicated that he did not know the reason behind the resignation of his mentor (Shullai).
Government sources said that since the Speaker had accepted Shullai’s resignation, the government was contemplating to accommodate him as chairman of one of the corporations and in his place a Congress legislator was likely to be appointed.
