Individual actions cannot define the stance of a political party. The Voice of Peoples’ Party (VPP)spokesperson’s comment that the Congress was a government in the opposition reeks of disrespect for fellow MLAs and political arrogance of being the only political party that checkmates the Government. The departure of Ronnie V Lyngdoh from the Congress and his joining the NPP is his personal decision. Most turncoat politicians make the usual claims that they can serve people better if they are in the Government. This belies the role of parliamentary democracy where development is the job of the government and not that of individual MLAs. Elected representatives are supposed to follow up on schemes related to their constituencies and to relentlessly pursue with different departments when such are not implemented. In fact, development is the task of the government and it should proceed smoothly without need for interference by MLAs. No government has the right to starve any MLA of any scheme just because that MLA is in the Opposition
Very often the government adopts a strategy of depriving the Opposition constituencies of meaningful developmental projects. This pushes opposition MLAs to strike deals with the party in power to defect if ‘favourable offers’ in cash or positions are offered. In the name of development, overnight such MLAs fall prey to the ruling party’s machinations and defect and support the government. Once the Opposition is fragmented its members are no longer in position to raise their voices against the administration and thus the government has free reins. There is a tendency to believe that MLAs play a role in how state funds are spent. This is not true. They do informally play a role in the administration of their constituencies, but they don’t have a say in public expenditure. Therefore, they must use their role in the assembly to scrutinise the annual budget, participate in budget consultations, raise issues in the house using reports of the CAG and the Accountant General to ensure that public money is spent wisely. This also requires extensive preparation which our MLAs hardly have time for.
Both MLAs from the ruling party/coalition and the Opposition are expected to submit questions that the government is obliged to answer. During Question Hour (the first hour of every Assembly sitting), MLAs pose questions to the government about any aspect of governance. Questions are of types — Starred (where ministers offer an oral answer on the floor of the House) and unstarred (where ministers can issue a written response). While an MLA can, with permission from the Speaker, ask a supplementary query following a minister’s response to a starred question, the same cannot happen for unstarred questions. In other states where the Panchayati Raj Act is in place, roads, water supply, waste and sanitation are within the purview of the Panchayats and not of MLAs. In Meghalaya neither the District Councils nor the Dorbar Shnong have the resources to address these basic needs of a constituency. Hence MLAs and even MPs have to address civic needs and this puts undue pressure on them. Things have to change and MLAs have to know their brief.
