Shillong, Dec. 16: The winter session of the Meghalaya Assembly, beginning tomorrow, could be the stormiest of the year as the Opposition is spoiling for a fight with the coalition government on the issue of cracking the militant-politician nexus.
The three-day session will be the last one before elections, which means the Opposition has just one opportunity to pressure the government into revealing the names of the four politicians who allegedly have links with militants.
Chief minister F.A. Khonglam had announced recently that all four were MLAs from the Garo Hills and continued to maintain links with outfits active in the district. However, he had refused to name the quartet on the ground that it could hamper investigations.
The stage is now set for the Opposition, which is anything but convinced by Khonglam?s argument, to put the chief minister to the test in the Assembly. Most parties are of the opinion that the nexus, if not unravelled, will confuse the voters and affect their electoral prospects.
Veteran politician P.A. Sangma is particularly jittery because Khonglam had said that two of the legislators under the scanner were from his Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). The former Lok Sabha Speaker, however, said he had not discussed the issue with the chief minister.
The leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, T.H. Rangad, told The Telegraph that he would surely raise the issue during the winter session. ?The government must disclose the names of the MLAs. Otherwise, all of us will have to bear the cross,? he said.
The law and order situation in the Garo Hills, where new outfits like the People?s Liberation Front and the A?chik Liberation Front have joined hands with ?veterans? like the National Democratic Front of Boroland, could figure in the discussions.
The other issues on the agenda are the state?s online lottery deal with MS Associates and the proposed amendment to the Meghalaya Land Transfer Act.
The online lottery, launched in spite of opposition from various quarters, has failed to generate the kind of revenue that the government had projected. The weekly game has since become a monthly one because of the tepid public response to the venture.
The government has yet to secure permission to set up ticket terminals in other states, while Playwin games promoted by the Sikkim and Karnataka governments are doing brisk business in Meghalaya.