North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum fears that the government may ‘fix’ the problem of new National People’s Party (NPP) member Ransom Sutnga, who is accused of joining the party before he officially resigned from his role as a government-employed engineer.
Sutnga is keen to contest the 2023 state elections from Nongrum’s constituency.
Nongrum did not want to be drawn too much into the issue but said that a person holding a government post should have known better.
“It’s sad to know that a person who is looking to be elected as a lawmaker has already violated the law,” the MLA told this reporter.
The matter is serious enough that it was raised in the Assembly by the opposition Trinamool Congress, much to the embarrassment of the NPP.
“Necessary action will also be taken according to the provisions of the service rules,” Deputy Chief Minister and Public Works Department Minister Prestone Tynsong said in the house; Sutnga is a PWD engineer.
However, sources close to Sutnga have said that he submitted his resignation before joining the NPP. Nongrum is not convinced, however, saying, “The small are always punished but the powerful do whatever they like. It is also obvious that now that this issue has been raised in the public domain, they (the NPP and government) will use the backdate procedure and say that the official had resigned before joining the party.”
