Shillong, March 23 : Efforts are on by the Meghalaya Progressive Alliance to bring back to its fold the three legislators whose petitions against their interim disqualification by Meghalaya Speaker Bindo Lanong are pending before the Shillong bench of Gauhati High Court.
The three separate petitions filed by Adviser Pariong of the Hill State Peoples’ Democratic Party (HSPDP), Deputy Speaker Sanbor Shullai of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Independent Ismail Marak, who is also an associate member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), against the Speaker’s order will be taken up by the court tomorrow.
However, the MPA and the respective political parties that the legislators represent are set to pardon them to facilitate the Speaker to forgive their action of “deserting” the alliance.
Pariong had written to Lanong as well as the HSPDP legislator and party president H.S. Lyngdoh to take the initiative for the cancellation of his suspension order.
The Speaker has made it clear that he would go according to the law on the issue of forgiving the actions of the legislators who had deserted the MPA and their parties .
According to him, there is a provision in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution that allows the Speaker to forgive such actions of legislators if their parties write to him saying they have pardoned the legislators.
Lyngdoh, who arrived from New Delhi, said today he would send a letter to Lanong tomorrow to forgive Pariong and withdraw his suspension order.
MPA spokesman and NCP legislator Conrad Sangma said the NCP was trying to bring Shullai back to its fold.
“Negotiations are on with Shullai and we are ready to pardon him provided we get a firm commitment from him.”
The East Khasi Hills unit of the NCP is already in touch with Shullai asking him to write to the party to forgive him.
“We are in touch with him and we hope that the legislator will be sending the letter of pardon to us soon,” an NCP party functionary of the district unit said.
Sangma said Marak was in touch with the MPA. He also claimed that Limison Sangma, another Independent who has been temporarily cleared of the disqualification order by the court, would return to the MPA fold.
If the MPA gets four more legislators to its fold, its tally will be 32 — a majority figure to stake claim to form the government.
Several non-Congress parties today opposed imposition of President’s rule in Meghalaya and extended moral support to the MPA at a meeting convened by NCP leader P.A. Sangma in Guwahati.
Congress Legislature Party leader D.D. Lapang returned to Shillong from New Delhi today after holding discussions with the AICC leaders.
A Congress source said the AICC wanted a stable government in the state and had even asked Lapang to hold negotiations with the UDP that has 10 MLAs.
The AICC has ruled out a Congress-NCP government in the state as NCP leader P.A. Sangma is opposed to it, the source added.
A Congress legislator said the party would approach the UDP to form a stable government as Governor R.S. Mooshahary would not entertain any group which has a thin majority.
Tomorrow, the MPA will file two special leave petitions in the Supreme Court against the stay on disqualification of Limison Sangma and KHNAM member Paul Lyngdoh by the Shillong bench of Gauhati High Court on Friday.
Informing this over phone from New Delhi, Independent legislator Manas Chaudhuri, one of the members of an MPA delegation, today said besides filing a writ petition in the Supreme Court against imposition of President’s rule in Meghalaya, two special leave petitions would be filed tomorrow challenging the jurisdiction of the high court. The MPA said the petitions would be filed by senior Supreme Court advocate Amit Kumar.