SHILLONG: The opposition in the KHADC on Thursday accused Chairman L.G Nongsiej of bypassing the Assam and Meghalaya Autonomous Districts (Constitution of District Council) Rules, 1951 when the no confidence motion was taken up.
Quoting Section 71(2) of the rule, HSPDP MDC Teilinia Thangkhiew said the rules were clear that the no-confidence motion could not be taken up before 24 hours and should have been tabled on Friday.
“I walked out because I understood that the chairman (LG Nongsiej) has bulldozed the matter and bypassed the rule prompting us to stage the protest,” Thangkhiew said.
Congress MDC Manstudy Nongrem said, “We don’t have any confidence in the present Executive Committee. We did not want to disrupt the passage of the budget and we felt that the no-confidence motion should be placed on the last day of the budget.”
When asked that the chairman had referred to the exigency, he said, “He should have pointed out the exigency and we would not have opposed if the exigency was found to be indispensable. There was no such exigency.”
Stating that the legislators were caught unawares, Thangkhiew said, “I was asked to move without the order paper. The Legislative Department was caught unawares. I placed the no-confidence in the morning (Thursday) and that it should have been tabled tomorrow.”
The HSPDP MDC, however, said, “Provided that exigencies of business required, the chairman shall have the power to relax the rule and take up the motion earlier than twenty four hours.”
The next move of the opposition members will be discussed later.
Asserting that the chairman should define the exigency of the situation, she said, “But today only one hour was given as before the question hour, he (the chairman) read out the no-confidence motion and right after the end of the question hour, he directed us to move the no-confidence motion and did not point out what is the exigency.”
Thangkhiew said the regional parties after the pre-poll alliance intend to work for the interest of the people and not for the Congress.
“The Congress is already in the opposition and supported us when we moved the no-confidence motion. Can we ask them not to support us,” she added.
Congress’s Nongrem reiterated that the party did not collude with the regional parties and supported H.S Shylla when the latter asked for it when he moved the no-trust.
“There is no such link to say that the regional parties and the Congress have colluded to oust P.N Syiem,” he said.
Shylla ‘PDF’s first child’
UDP MDC Teinwell Dkhar pointed out that MDC H.S Shylla once said the People’s Democratic Forum would give birth to the People’s Democratic Front.
“Now that the People’s Democratic Front is here, Shylla is its first-born son,” he added.
Shylla will contest the 2018 Assembly elections on a PDF ticket.
Opp desperate to take over EC: CEM
The KHADC CEM accused the Opposition members of making desperate attempts to lay their hands on the Executive Committee (EC).
Referring to Thursday’s walkout drama, Syiem pointed out that the Opposition members should have raised the issue when the chairman announced that the no-confidence motion will be taken up after the question hour.
“They could have objected when the announcement was made to take up the no-confidence motion and the next moment they give an excuse of the paper order,” he said.
Syiem added that since the no-confidence motion was moved, discussion should have been initiated.
Terming the attitude of the Opposition MDCs as childish, he said, “They should have intimated the recall of the no-confidence officially to the KHADC chairman or secretary.”
