Newly elected Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Ampareen Lyngdoh said the decision by the party to delay the petition for disqualification of Charles Pyngrope and Shitlang Pale is part of strategy.
Lyngdoh had on November 29 submitted a petition to the Speaker seeking disqualification of Congress MLAs who joined the Trinamool Congress in alleged contravention of the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The complaint was lodged against ten MLAs, barring Pyngrope and Pale.
“We have excluded them (Pyngrope and Pale) from the petition filed so that we could see, study and observe the defence of the ten MLAs on the petition filed by us so that this gives us enough grounds to gather more arguments and increase the quality of our petition in the eyes of the law,” Lyngdoh told media persons here today.
Stating that the Congress is waiting for the response of the ten MLAs on the show cause notice served to them by the Speaker before they build more arguments for disqualification all the defectors, Lyngdoh said, “The provision of the law ensures that while filing petition we are given the freedom to observed and this is the strategy that we are using.”
“In this way, we are given another space to reaffirm our commitment and stand that the twelve defected Congress MLAs need to be disqualified. Once we are privy to the submission of the ten MLAs to know whether or not all points have been covered in our arguments backed up by our efficient legal team we will file the petitions against the Pyngrope and Pale as well.”
Lyngdoh said that party inputs showed that from the twelve MLAs, Pyngrope and Pale were the last ones to decide on leaving Congress.
When asked as to what the Congress would do if the ruling of the Speaker is not to disqualify the twelve MLAs, Lyngdoh said, “The forum before us is to take cognisance of the Tenth Schedule that looks into matters of defection.”
She further said that Congress is not faceless in Garo Hills and claimed that with so many months left the party will at least win another five seats in the region even as she stated that people should stop giving too much importance to one face (Dr. Mukul Sangma) because Congress is teamwork and not a one-man show.
Reacting to a statement made by Dr. Sangma who said the five remaining Congress MLAs were making desperate moves, Lyngdoh said, “It would be wise for all the twelve defectors to avoid speaking individually to the media and taking a dig at the group of five Congress MLAs because this could amount to gossiping outside the forum of legislation.”
“We will stick to our rights as MLAs and follow procedures and not react to a statement of individuals which is irrelevant,” she said.
On the various allegations made by former Congress working president James Lyngdoh against the party yesterday, she said certain individuals in the party were already engaging in anti-party activities.
According to her, on September 29, the party had already denotified certain party leaders holding key positions ahead of the by-elections. She also said that the decision to wind up the NSUI Meghalaya unit was also part of the strategy to checkmate those supporting the defecting MLAs.
