Shillong, Nov 17: In a significant political development, the National People’s Party that is in alliance with the Manipur BJP government headed by Chief Minister Biren Singh withdrew its support on Sunday evening in view of the escalating violence in the state and blamed Singh for failure to restore normalcy.
The situation in Imphal and other valley based districts have been on a boil ever since security forces recovered the bodies of six people- three women and 3 children, from a river in Jiribam district of the state, a few days ago. The victims were from a camp for displaced victims in Jiribam district of the state when it was reportedly attacked by tribal militants and they were abducted.
The NPP national president and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma dashed off a letter to BJP national president J P Nadda announcing his party’s withdrawal of support to the Biren Singh government.
The NPP has seven elected legislators in the current Manipur assembly.
In his letter to Nadda, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma expressed his party’s concern over the prevailing law and order situation in that state.
“In the last few days, we have seen the situation further deteriorate where many more innocent lives have been lost and people in the State are going through immense suffering. We strongly feel that the Manipur State Government under the leadership of Biren Singh has completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy,” stated Conrad Sangma in the withdrawal letter to the BJP chief.
It may be noted that the BJP government in Manipur is already under immense pressure over the violence that has continued for well over a year and a half. Over a dozen BJP MLAs have already petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah seeking a leadership change in the state.