Members free to raise issues in House: Speaker dismisses VPP’s charge

SHILLONG, Sep 22: Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma slammed the Voice of the People Party for having time to raise the issue of people drying clothes on the railings on the floor of the House and later complaining about not getting the time to raise the issue of price rise.
“If they decide to take the price rise issue to the streets instead of the House, it is up to them. They had time to raise the issue of people drying clothes on the railing. Why couldn’t they raise this issue in the Assembly?” he questioned.
Dismissing allegations that the VPP MLAs were not given enough time to raise the issue of price rise in the House, Sangma said, “All the members are free to raise issues in the House since adequate time is given to every member.”
“It is up to the members to decide which issues are important and accordingly raise them in the House,” he added.
The VPP had recently staged a sit-in at the Malki ground to protest the rising prices of essential goods in Meghalaya and the denial of an opportunity for the party to raise the issue during the recent autumn session of the Assembly.