SHILLONG, April 7: Congress leader Ronnie V Lyngdoh on Sunday slammed TMC leader Mukul Sangma for his “conspiracy” remark on the post of Leader of Opposition. Lyngdoh termed Sangma’s remark as a sign of pettiness since “adversity exposes the dark side of a person”.
“The statement that we (Congress) are a silent spectator to the wrong doing has come because we do not shout on the streets. We are not NGOs but we are elected representatives so we speak in the appropriate forum which is the Assembly,” Lyngdoh said.
Sangma had alleged that the NPP, BJP and Congress started hobnobbing after the Assembly elections last year and entered into a collective conspiracy to decide on the post of Leader of Opposition to mute the voice of Mukul Sangma.
Lyngdoh stated that there is a parliamentary tradition and convention pertaining to the appointment of Leader of Opposition.
“There is no convention that somebody who is elected seven or ten times as MLA should be made Leader of Opposition. TMC has five MLAs and we also have five MLAs but the main thing that tilted the choice in our favour is that we are a national party,” Lyngdoh stated.
He also made it clear that the question of seniority with regard to appointment of the LO does not arise. “If you speak in that sense then Prestone Tynsong is senior to Conrad Sangma. In that case Bah Prestone should have been made the chief minister,” he argued.
