5-day Autumn session starts from today
SHILLONG, Aug 22: After three Congress MLAs crossed the floor, a depleted opposition will largely depend on the VPP to take on the treasury benches as the Autumn session of Assembly gets under way on Friday.
No coordination meeting was held among the three opposition parties to collectively take up issues during the five-day session.
Past sessions showed the Opposition in a poor light as their MLAs raised similar issues due to the lack of coordination.
This time, the strength of the Opposition got reduced to ten members – five from Trinamool Congress (TMC), four from Voice of the People Party (VPP) and one from the Congress.
The ruling NPP, which secured a majority after three Congress MLAs joined its fold, is likely to have a smooth sailing as far as the passage of bills and other Assembly businesses are concerned.
With the Congress struggling for survival and the TMC remaining dormant for a greater part of the year, all eyes will be surely on the VPP to make the Opposition’s presence felt in the 59-member House.
Some Opposition leaders are however unhappy with the VPP’s stance of not having a formal alliance among the three opposition parties.
Requesting anonymity, a senior opposition MLA said the VPP is putting its own agenda as a priority without concerning much about the state and its people.
“Their president said they want to maintain a distinct identity of their own but it is impacting the Opposition bench negatively,” the leader said.
According to him, the Opposition would have been much stronger and effective if their strength was combined.
Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma told The Shillong Times on Thursday that he has received word that Opposition Leader, Ronnie V Lyngdoh is likely to submit his resignation from the post.
According to reports, the TMC is likely to get the post. TMC leader Mukul Sangma and TMC state president Charles Pyngrope are the frontrunners.
The normal criterion is that an opposition party has to have one-tenth of the strength of the House (six in Meghalaya’s case) to get the post of Leader of Opposition.
Last year, the Congress and the TMC had five MLAs each while the VPP had four. Another criterion is that the post always goes to the most senior member of the House which, in this case, is Mukul Sangma.