Shillong Sept 6: Members of the Meghalaya Assembly paid homage to Speaker, late Dr Donkupar Roy and other political leaders who had passed away in the last few months, while BJP legislator, Sanbor Shullai who took part in the obituary reference took the name of former Union finance minister, and Congress leader, P. Chidambaram saying, “he is serving the kingdom of evil in Tihar jail.”

Chief minister, Conrad K Sangma led the House in paying homage to various political leaders who had passed away especially the Speaker, late Dr Donkupar who passed away while in office as Speaker. Dr Donkupar was elected to the post of Speaker on March 12, 2018. He was the MLA of Shella constituency since 1988 and passed away on July 28.

The chief minister described Dr Donkupar as an architect in the formation of the present Meghalaya Democratic Alliance govenrment and recalled his contributions as MLA, minister, chief minister and Speaker for the betterment of the state. He also paid tribute to former Union ministers, Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Goa chief minister, Manohar Parrikar and other leaders who passed away recently.

Deputy Speaker, Timothy D Shira, leader of Opposition, Mukul Sangma and other MLAs also remembered Donkupar’s contributions to the state while also paying tributes to other departed leaders.

BJP legislator from South Shillong, Sanbor Shullai who joined in remembering the departed leaders of the state and the country recalled his long associations with the late Speaker, Dr Donkupar while also recalling the contributions of Jaitley and Swaraj as union ministers.

As he conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and prayed to God to grant eternal peace to the departed souls, Shullai said, God has taken away the two important leaders – Jaitley and Swaraj, who are now serving the kingdom of God, but former Union minister, Chidambaram “is serving the kingdom of evil in Tihar jail.”

Shullai also recalled that the late Speaker, Dr Donkupar used to call him a “fighter.”

“After I was elected as Deputy Speaker in 2013, I sat next to late Dr Donkupar when he was the leader of Opposition. Dr Donkupar told tell me that he felt inspired to sit near me as I am the fighter. As fighter, I fought the elections and defeated the then minister, Manas Chaudhuri,” Shullai said.

Shullai speech brought a peal of laughter in the House, but there was no interruption to his speech either from Congress MLAs or Deputy Speaker.

Almost all members participated in the obituary reference and paid their respect to late Donkupar and other leaders.