Guwahati: Condemning the removal of Congress MLA Debabrata Saikia as the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in Assam Legislative Assembly, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has accused House Speaker Hitendra Nath Goswami of acting as a BJP agent.
In a statement, the APCC said, “The Speaker of the ALA is acting a BJP agent rather than the speaker of the house. While withdrawing the Leader of the Opposition status, he claimed that the number of the Congress MLAs in the house is not sufficient to be in opposition whereas it has been witnessed that many states in India have opposition which are less than 1/6th in number and still have a Leader of Opposition.”
Highlighting section 2 of the Salary and Allowance of the LOP in Assam Legislative Assembly Act, 1978, Congress said ‘Leader of Opposition’ means that member of the Assembly who is, for the time being, the largest single party in opposition.
It added, “The act does not state that the number of MLAs to be in opposition should be 1/6th.”
Congress which won 26 out of the 126 seats of the state assembly currently has 20 seats. One seat short of 21, which is the count for the deemed 1/6th pre-requisite.
APCC also said that the current strength of the Assembly is 119 instead of 126, and Saikia must continue to remain as the Leader of Opposition.
Calling it an “electoral stunt”, the party said that the entire country is aware of BJP’s dirty politics and the people of the state will give them a befitting reply in the upcoming state elections.
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