KHADC effect: Doubts over Congress’s role as opposition

SHILLONG, July 2: The NPP-Congress alliance in the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council has put the spotlight on the grand old party’s status as the opposition party in the Meghalaya Assembly.
The opposition bench in the 60-member House comprises of Congress, Trinamool Congress, and the Voice of the People Party. But Speaker Thomas A. Sangma recently nominated Congress Legislature Party leader, Ronnie V. Lyngdoh as the leader of the opposition, a post the TMC coveted.
“The TMC, VPP and Congress won the election on different ideologies. We had no pre-poll or post-poll alliance and that is why we are continuing like this,” Lyngdoh told The Shillong Times on Sunday when asked if the opposition bench is divided.
“We are not united but I am sure we will speak in one voice for issues concerning the people,” he said.
He said Congress, a national party, has not been working with the TMC at the national level. “Thus, there is no rush for an alliance but we will see when the need arises,” he added.
Lyngdoh trashed the view that the opposition bench has been presenting a weak picture.
“None of the opposition parties has supported the Centre’s bid to implement the Uniform Civil Code, which even the ruling NPP is opposed to,” he said.
The VPP, on the other hand, ruled out any alliance with either Congress or the TMC.
“However, this does not mean that the opposition cannot work for the people together. Unity does not mean that we have to be under one umbrella,” VPP spokesperson Batskhem Myrboh said.
He said the opposition MLAs cooperated on various issues during the last Assembly session. “But the opposition has now been effectively reduced to two parties – TMC and VPP,” he said.
“Congress is nothing but the MDA 2.0 government-in-opposition, a strange arrangement that can happen only in Meghalaya. It would be honourable on the part of Congress to directly join hands with the NPP in the government,” Myrboh said.
“The position taken by the Congress to extend support to the NPP (in KHADC) is tantamount to depriving the people of the state of a genuine opposition. However, this strange and unnatural arrangement is not a new one between the politicians of the NPP and Congress,” he said.
“In its earlier avatar as the NCP, the NPP was in alliance with Congress at the Centre while pretending to be at loggerheads at the state level. This kind of arrangement is detrimental to the interest of the people of the state,” he added.
TMC vice-president, George B. Lyngdoh echoed Myrboh, insisting that the “dual role” of Congress would weaken the opposition.
“The opposition leaders seem to be caught in a dilemma with one foot in the government and the other foot in the opposition. This does not augur well for democracy,” he said, claiming that the TMC remains a strong political force in the state with five MLAs and a good number of MDCs.
He said the pro-NPP stance of Congress could have been a factor in the Speaker not acknowledging the TMC as the opposition party.