SHILLONG, March 14: Battered and bruised in the recent Assembly election, both Congress and TMC are fighting an ego battle over the post of Leader of Opposition.
While Congress has staked its claim to the post despite not having the requisite number, TMC has not made any move and VPP has distanced itself from the two opposition parties.
Meanwhile, MPCC chief, Vincent H. Pala on Tuesday feared that there may be an attempt to suppress the Opposition by denying its nominee recognition as the Leader of the Opposition.
Pala surmised that the ruling conglomerate wants to hold absolute power with themselves and turn it into an unbridled monopoly.
“I understand CLP leader Ronnie (Lyngdoh) has written to the Speaker that Congress should be recognised as the main Opposition. I don’t know what the latest on that is but what I understand is that they may not want to give us the status as they still want to hold power with themselves. But any government without Opposition will be weak,” said Pala.
The State Congress has already submitted an application to Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma, claiming that its nominee should get recognition by virtue of it being a national party.
Stating that the Leader of the Opposition has a lot of rights and duties, he said, “But they want to suppress. We respect the mandate of the people but even in Parliament we did not get the one-tenth mandate but still, we were recognised by the BJP government.”
The Opposition parties in the Assembly are disjointed and nonchalant on the issue of selecting a Leader of Opposition. While Congress claims that its nominee should get recognition by virtue of it being a national party, the strategy of TMC, which has an equal number of five seats along with Congress, has been silent on the issue.
Congress, TMC, and VPP, which have a combined strength of 14, are yet to reach any consensus on having an opposition leader.
“For a healthy democracy, there is a need for LoP and there are a lot of issues and committees which need to be handled by the LoP. If you suppress and not give, it will be a one-man one-sided show and it will not be good,” he added.
Reminding that Nagaland has no LO and the issues of the people remain unsolved, he said, “I think we should recognise NGOs and Opposition then only we will have a healthy democracy.”
He asserted that the Congress nominee should be recognised as they are a national party having five MLAs.
The Speaker has already clarified that unless ten MLAs submit a written claim to LoP, the post may fall through by default.
After the estrangement of former party colleagues, Mukul Sangma and Pala, it appears that the duo is unwilling to make a common cause on this issue.
