War of words erupted between North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong today during the question hour on Meghalaya-Assam boundary dispute.
Nongrum felt that he was ignored during the question hour on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and even told the Speaker Metbah Lyngdoh that the Speaker was trying to “annoy him.”
The Speaker urged Nongrum to refrain from disrespecting the chair. Nongrum in his defense said that he has been waiting for more than 40 minutes and has been raising his hand that he had a question but was ignored.
Nongrum then lashed out at the chief minister if the government dares to review the signed MoU. The CM instead dared him if he could list out the 12 areas of differences without reading it from paper and if he knew it by heart. “Tell me the number of times he has visited these areas of difference,” he taunted.
An immediate emotional outburst was seen from the Nongrum who responded that he will not do it since the CM is duty bound.
The Deputy Chief Minister was quick to rise to silence Nongrum but to no avail. The raging voices of the three members (CM, Deputy CM and Nongrum) echoed in the House which overpowered the voice of the Speaker who tried to calm both the sides to maintain the decorum of the House.
The heated argument lasted for a minute and a few seconds, wherein Tynsong could also be heard asking the MLA not to be emotional regarding the Assam Meghalaya border dispute.
Once the Speaker was able to silence both the parties, the Chief Minister responded and said, “I understand that we are all emotional about this topic and respect his sentiments. I had only asked the member to list the areas of difference because we get emotional about the issue without knowing the areas or villages. Just simply shouting and showing such drama for whatever reasons maybe elections is coming who knows, doesn’t help. Emotional outburst is unnecessary,” he said.
