Of late it has seemed that no day goes by without more legislators joining the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA) camp. While this may cheer the government of Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, former Deputy CM Bindo Lanong has warned that this could be an unhealthy situation for the state.
Lanong is a senior member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), a constituent of the MDA.
With the five remaining Congress MLAs having taken the decision, without the rest of the party being onboard, to support the MDA, the opposition in the Assembly has been reduced to just 12 legislators in the Trinamool Congress, which itself seems on shaky ground as all its MLAs came over from the Congress in November.
“Without a strong opposition, corruption may double because there will be no one to point fingers against the wrongdoings of the people in power,” Lanong said, adding that an opposition has constitutional duties to keep the government honest and that not having one gives the government free rein to do as it pleases.
The Congress men and women, who have endured four years in opposition, should have waited until the end of the Assembly’s term next year before quitting the party, he opined.
“AICC (All India Congress Committee) should have taught them a lesson but it did nothing and seems mentally subdued.The AICC can still take action and go to court and get Mukul and his team disqualified,” he said.
The Congress 5 have not gone the same way. As they have rebelled against their party high command in supporting the government but have not quit the Congress, they cannot be expelled from the Assembly. Instead, the party has suspended them and may yet throw them out of the Congress, which would turn them into Independents.
