United Democratic Party (UDP) adviser Bindo M Lanong has berated the Congress Party for not pursuing the defection of the 12 defectors who left the party to join the Trinamool Congress through the courts.
Lanong has consistently argued that the 12, by defecting to the TMC without resigning their seats in the Assembly, had violated relevant anti-defection laws, despite their supposed merger with the TMC.
The Congress had tried to get the 12, led by former Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma, disqualified but their petition was rejected by none other than Lanong’s party colleague, the Assembly Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh.
“I’m speaking as a lawyer on the issue and I stand by what I said because I know the law,” Lanong told Highland Post. “This is not a case of merger and the moment the Congress moves the court, there will be consequences for the 12 MLAs who joined the TMC.”
Stating that even though he had nothing to say against the decision of the Speaker on the matter, he questioned how the Meghalaya branch of the Congress could merge with another party.
“These 12 won on Congress tickets with the approval of the AICC (All India Congress Committee) and, if this is a case of merger, then it should be the AICC that will merge with the TMC and not the MPCC (Meghalaya Pradesh Congress Committee),” he said. “Why can’t they (the Congress) go to court and why are they so submissive? The moment they go to the court Dr Mukul and the other 11 will be disqualified immediately.”
