Shillong, Sept 14: War of words erupted between North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum and Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma and Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong on the issue of Assam – Meghalaya border dispute during the Question Hour at the Assembly session of Wednesday.
Nongrum had lashed out at the CM and challenged if the government dares to review the signed MoU.
Responding to the challenge, the CM instead dared the North Shillong MLA if he could list out the 12 areas of differences without reading it from paper and also mention the number of times he had visited these areas of difference.
An immediate rage was witnessed from the KHNAM MLA Adelbert Nongrum who responded that he will not do it since the CM is duty bound.
Supporting to the CM, deputy chief minister Prestone Tynsong tried to remind the MLA that he should stick to asking questions and not sway and get emotional. The voices of the three members (CM, Deputy CM and Nongrum) had overpowered the voice of the Speaker who was trying to calm both the sides.
The heated argument lasted for nearly two minutes. Once the Speaker was able to silence both the parties the CM was then given an opportunity to respond to the question of the North Shillong MLA.
“I understand that we are all emotional about this topic and respect his sentiments. I had only asked the member to list the areas of difference because we get emotional about the issue without knowing the areas or villages. Just simply shouting and showing such drama for whatever reasons, maybe elections is coming who knows, doesn’t help,” Conrad said.