‘MPCC violated party constitution in suspending Syiem’

SHILLONG: The Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has violated the party constitution while taking action against Congress legislator and KHADC CEM P.N Syiem, some party leaders feel.
In the past, the party would first serve a show-cause notice to any member who violated the principles of the party, a Congress leader said. He added that based on the reply of the member, the disciplinary committee would take a decision on whether to take any action.
However, in the case of Syiem, neither a show-cause was issued nor any meeting of the disciplinary committee was held to discuss the matter.
MPCC president D.D Lapang recently justified the reason for not issuing a show-cause notice to Syiem by saying that the rebel leader’s intention was very clear as expressed through the media reports. Lapang had claimed that show-cause notices are generally issued to party members whose intentions are not clear.  Curiously, the MPCC did not seek clarification from Syiem on his various critical statements to the media related to the functioning of the government and the party.
Party sources said the MPCC should have crosschecked with Syiem on the veracity of the media reports as in the past Lapang himself was sceptical about several reports, especially when he was the chief minister.
There was lack of clarity on who ordered the suspension of Syiem with the MPCC indicating that it came from the AICC which, on the other hand, had said the matter was left to the state leadership to decide.
Sources said the decision to suspend Syiem was jointly taken by AICC general secretary in charge of Meghalaya CP Joshi and Lapang.
Soon after the suspension, Shillong MP Vincent Pala had said sufficient time should have been given to Syiem before taking any drastic steps. Pala’s statement had irked the MPCC president who wanted the AICC to take note of it.
Syiem had said that the action against him was arbitrary as no show cause was served. Senior congress leader Rowell Lyngdoh had also criticised the sudden action by the state Congress leadership.
When contacted, former chief minister SC Marak, without defending anyone, indicated that as per the normal course of action, a show-cause notice is issued first and the matter then goes to the disciplinary committee which takes a decision based on the reply of the rebel member.