The opposition Congress Party is targeting Speaker of the Assembly, Metbah Lyngdoh, as payback for the United Democratic Party (of which Lyngdoh is a senior member) not willing to join hands with the opposition, UDP general secretary Jemino Mawthoh said today.
The Congress has moved a resolution to remove Lyngdoh from the Speaker’s chair. This petition will be taken up during the next Assembly session.
“Just because he (Lyngdoh) is the president of the UDP and there have been numerous attempts by the Congress to break up the government, which all failed, these are the reasons they are targeting him,” Mawthoh said.
He added that such a move is the “height of desperation” and that, being a venerable political organisation, it should not indulge in “cheap, petty political tricks”.
“I don’t see any justification or reason for the opposition to try and oust the speaker,” Mawthoh stated.
Apart from this, the UDP suspects that internal rivalries within the Congress could be part of the reason that the party is trying to dislodge the Speaker. According to this logic, the top echelons within the Congress are trying to outmuscle each other to project themselves as the best leader.
Mawthoh believes that Shillong MP Vincent Pala’s return to state-level politics in taking on the mantle of Meghalaya Congress chief is “surprising”.
“There are three groups in the Congress camp and, with Pala’s return, there is jostling for prominence,” he opined.
