The no-confidence motion moved by the opposition Congress Party was easily defeated in the Assembly today, with all the myriad members of the Meghalaya Democratic Alliance coalition standing behind the government.
The Congress has only 19 MLAs in the 60-member house and the vote on the no-confidence motion was defeated by a voice vote.
Leader of the opposition, Dr Mukul Sangma, who moved the motion, said the house did not have confidence in the government, accusing it of failing on various fronts, such as illegalities in coal transportation, mining and implementation of the central government’s Saubhagya scheme to provide electricity to all households.
Dr Sangma said that while the MDA government remains in power the state will be robbed blind.
Meanwhile, Mawsynram MLA Himalaya Shangpliang, speaking for the Congress, questioned what was behind the formation of a company known as Meghalayan Age Ltd, which has been floated by three senior civil servants. The Meghalayan Age was the name given to a festival organised by the state government earlier this year which could only be partly held due to the coming of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In defence, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma explained that the company is state-owned and was formed in order to meet the requirements of an externally-aided project worth Rs 700 crore. He also corrected Shangpliang in saying that the authorized share capital of the company is Rs 5 crore and paid up capital is Rs 1 crore and not Rs 50 crore and Rs 10 crore as the Mawsynram MLA had said.
Meanwhile, on the law and order front, Sangma stated that militancy has drastically reduced under the MDA government.
Since the MDA came to power in 2018 only three militants, four civilians and one police personnel were killed in militancy-related activities, compared to 66, 36 and nine respectively in 2015-17 when the Congress was in power.
He also claimed that no kidnappings of civilians have occurred under his government’s tenure, compared to 17 in 2015-17.
“This clearly shows that law and order has been improving in the state and it is misleading on the part of the opposition to say it has been the worst in the last two and half years,” Sangma said.
