Invitation for President's Rule: Congress
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, August 21 2023:
Failure on the part of the BJP government to hold the state assembly session, which is mandatory within a gap of six months from the last assembly session, has brought constitutional crisis in the state, which is an invitation for President's Rule, said Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president K Meghachandra, who also accused the double-engine government of BJP for murdering democracy in the state.
Addressing a press meet at Congress Bhawan here on Monday, MLA Meghachandra said that the BJP government has violated the rights of the MLAs and the public by not convening the mandatory assembly session.
Since there has been a lapse in the normal assembly session, it is now prerogative of the Centre to intervene.
The deadline for holding mandatory assembly session is September 2 after which there will be constitutional crisis in the state, which is an invitation for President's Rule.
Congress will wait for the deadline and take up the matter accordingly, he said.
Pointing out that emergency sitting of the state assembly is different from normal session, he explained that a 15-day gap notice period is mandatory for convening normal assembly session whereas an emergency session can be convened with a gap of a single day's notice which neither the speaker nor the chief minister or minister concerned are not obligated to give response to any motion or question raised by a member.
As such, an emergency session has minimal sense as its definition is a special session for a special purpose.
Nevertheless, different CSOs as well as Congress and 10 other political parties have been demanding a special session of the state assembly to discuss the present situation in the state, Meghachandra maintained.
He also recounted that the state cabinet had earlier recommended to the Governor to convene normal assembly session on August 21 to which the Governor declined.
There are high possibilities of in struction from the Centre for not convening the normal assembly session.
In this situation, there is little possibility of the government convening a special assembly session.
On the other hand, special assembly session does not make it compulsory for all the members to attend whereas normal assembly session requires their presence.
Considering the situation, wherein several MLAs are likely to skip the session, BJP in the Centre might have instructed to refrain from convening the normal assembly session, he said.
The Congress leader further said that the roles of both the Centre and the state government in the present situation are becoming clearer day by day.
The two engines are moving in opposite directions, which is the prime reason for continuation of the violence for over 100 days, he said.
The Congress president also accused the BJP government of murdering democracy in the state.
Joining the media briefing, Congress MLA Th Lokeshwar demanded an explanation from the government for not convening the assembly session, which is mandatory every six month.
All the ruling MLAs except for Keirao MLA L Rameshwar are not saying a single word to convene assembly session.
In case of imposition of President's Rule due to constitutional crisis, the BJP government should bear the responsibility of violating the rights and trust of the public.
All the 55 ruling MLAs should also bear the same responsibility irrespective of their party affiliation, he added.