10 NDA MLAs meet Manipur Governor, claim 44 MLAs support popular government

A day after former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh held a meeting with Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla, 10 NDA MLAs on Wednesday met the Governor, claiming that they have the support of 44 legislators in the 60-member Assembly to form a popular government in the state. 

The ten MLAs - 8 from the BJP and two from the National People’s Party (NPP) – have submitted a petition to the Governor with the signatures of 22 legislators seeking the formation of a new government.

After the meeting at the Raj Bhavan, BJP legislator Thokchom Radheshyam Singh claimed that 44 MLAs are ready to support the new government in Manipur.

"However, the central leadership of the BJP would take the decision about the formation of the new government," he told the media.

People are facing a great deal of hardship, he said.

"In the previous term of the first BJP government, we lost two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and in the current term, another more than two years have been lost due to the ethnic conflict."

The 60-member Manipur Assembly, which, after the promulgation of President's Rule on February 13, has been put under suspended animation, has a tenure till 2027.

Biren Singh met the Governor on Tuesday and discussed the restoration of peace and normalcy and other vital issues of the state.

A senior official had said that Biren Singh, who resigned from the Chief Minister’s post on February 9, four days before the promulgation of the President’s Rule in the trouble-torn state, requested Bhalla to take immediate steps to resolve the vital issues, including that of illegal immigrants.

BJP’s Rajya Sabha member from Manipur, Maharaja Sanajaoba Leishemba, earlier this month expressed hope that a popular government would be formed in the state within the next two months. He urged all political leaders to unite in dealing with the challenges the state has been facing.

"The President’s rule alone cannot resolve the prevailing issues. A popular government can function closely in tandem with the people and find a solution to the present ethnic crisis," he had told the media.

BJP's North East In-charge Sambit Patra also earlier this month visited the state’s Kangpokpi and Churachandpur districts and met Kuki BJP MLAs Vungzagin Valte and Nemcha Kipgen and several Kuki-Zo and civil society organisations, including the Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU).

Kipgen was the lone woman Minister in the Biren Singh-led government in Manipur.

Patra also held closed-door meetings with Biren Singh, Assembly Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh and various other leaders and MLAs in Imphal. However, neither Patra nor the BJP disclosed the matter of discussions of the series of meetings during his three-day stay in Manipur. His visit came nearly a week after 21 MLAs wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, urging them to reinstate a "popular government" in the state.

According to an MLA, most of the 21 legislators belong to the BJP, and the remaining were from the National People's Party (NPP), the Naga People's Front (NPF), and Independents.

In the letter, the MLAs told the Prime Minister and the Union Home that the people of Manipur welcome the President's Rule with lots of hope and expectations, but no visible actions to bring peace and normalcy in the state have been seen so far.

In a bid to resolve the two-year-long ethnic hostilities, the first tripartite meeting between the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the representatives of Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities was held in New Delhi on April 5. The Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI), the Meitei community apex body, held a meeting with the officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi on Tuesday and reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to restoring peace in the state.