Election to be held during autumn session
SHILLONG: The first attempt of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance to bring consensus among the partners for the post of the Speaker of the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly has 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 on Tuesday, Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said the 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 will be represented by Sports Minister Banteidor Lyngdoh and similarly, BJP will be represented by Health Minister AL Hek.
Stating that the alliance has 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 name which will be proposed by the core committee will be finalised 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 MDA has to respect the identity of all the parties and alliances within the government.
The idea of forming a core committee has been mooted so that there is unanimity for the post of the Speaker, he said.
The election for the post of the Speaker was necessitated following the demise of Donkupar Roy last month.
Sangma also said that in a coalition, different partners would have their views and opinions which are natural and the alliance will follow what is important for the coalition and the state.
Later, the UDP leader and Cabinet Minister, Metbah Lyngdoh said the UDP placed its request before the MDA to support the candidate which will be proposed by the UDP and RDA for the post of Speaker.
“We are hopeful that the post of Speaker will come to us,” he said while informing that none of the alliance partners projected any names 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.
The MDA meeting did not discuss the upcoming Shella bypoll.