No differences among coalition partners: Prestone
SHILLONG: The crucial MDA meeting on Tuesday will discuss the post of Assembly Speaker, Shella bypoll and the upcoming autumn session of the House.
There are differences in the MDA over the post of the Speaker as UDP and PDF are set to suggest their own names for the post.
However, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong has maintained that the partners of the MDA are united.
The statement of Tynsong assumes significance a day ahead of the meeting of the MDA as he wants a consensus on the matter.
“All the MDA partners are intact. There is no question of any rift among the coalition partners. All the pertinent issues including the post of the Speaker and the by election will be deliberated in details in tomorrow’s meeting,” said Tynsong, who is also the senior leader of the National People’s Party (NPP).
When asked whether the allies of the MDA are happy over the claim of the UDP for the post of Speaker, Tynsong said he does not see any harm on the stand of the UDP to claim that the post of Speaker belongs to them.
“The other allies in the MDA are also free to stake their claim over the Speaker’s post. But a final decision on the Speaker’s post would be taken by all the allies of the MDA,” Tynsong said.
When asked if the failure to arrive on a consensus on the Speaker will lead to instability in the NPP- led MDA government, he said the question of instability does not arise.
Separate UDP meet
The UDP Parliamentary Party leader Metbah Lyngdoh said the party legislators would meet prior to the MDA meeting to decide on the nominee of the party. The name will then be discussed in the MDA forum.
“We are going to meet prior to the MDA meeting since the Central Executive Committee of the party had left it to the PP to decide on the issue of Speaker’s post,” Lyngdoh said.
Asked whether he is keen to hold the post, Lyngdoh said the MLA will have to decide as to who will hold the post.
To a question, UDP leader and Cabinet Minister Lahkmen Rymbui said he was yet to get any offer to accept the post of the Speaker. “If such an offer comes, we will discuss the matter”, he said.
Earlier, Urban Affairs Minister and PDF MLA Hamlet Dohling had castigated the UDP for claiming that the post of Speaker of the Speaker belongs to the party and it must go to the party only.