SHILLONG: The first attempt of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) to bring consensus among the alliance partners for the post of the Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly apparently failed as the alliance has decided to form a core committee which will come up with a consensus name for the post of the Speaker
Talking to media persons after the crucial meeting of the alliance here on Tuesday, Chief Minister, Conrad Sangma said that Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong will be the convener of the core committee
While the Regional Democratic Alliance will be represented by Tourism Minister, Metbah Lyngdoh, the United Progressive Front (UPF) will be represented by Sports Minister, Banteidor Lyngdoh and similarly, BJP will be represented by Health Minister, A L Hek
Stating that the alliance had unanimously decided that the election for the post of Speaker will be held in the upcoming Assembly session, the Chief Minister added that the consensus candidate which will be proposed by the core committee will be finalized on September 4.
“We as MDA have decided that we will have a unanimous and consensus candidate and whatever the case may be, we will put up one and support one candidate,” Sangma said
According to Sangma, the alliance has to respect the identity of all the parties and alliances within the Government and the idea of forming a core committee has been mooted so that there is an unanimity and consensus for the post of the Speaker.
The election for the post of the Speaker is necessitated following the demise of Dr Donkupar Last month
Sangma also said that in a coalition, different partners would have their views and opinions which is natural and the alliance will follow what is it is important for the coalition and the state.
Later, UDP MLA, Metbah Lyngdoh said that they placed its request before the MDA to support the candidate which will be proposed by the UDP and RDA for the post of Speakers
“We are hopeful that the post of Speaker will come to us,” he said while informing that none of the alliance constituents projected any name for the post of Speaker.
“It will take little more time and the reason is we would like to consult our senior leaders in the party and the process will be completed in a couple of days,” he said.