"Not able to stake a claim on formation of govt": Manipur Congress hits out at BJP

Imphal (Manipur) [India], February 14 (ANI): While the state of Manipur is yet to have a new Chief Minister to lead the government, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee attacked Bharatiya Janata Party in-charge of the state, Sambit Patra, claiming that the leading party is just "trying to buy time" and ultimately imposed president's rule.
"I came to know that Sambit Patra ji is here and met the Governor too. I think that he is not serious about that, because being the in-charge of the state of Manipur he is not working on the line to appoint leaders and is not able to stake a claim on the formation of the government at all. So rather it is increasing the division in the BJP. But the idea is that the BJP is in the majority and the Governor summoned the Assembly to avoid a Constitutional crisis, in fact now the provisions of (Article) 174, so the Governor, sad to say is not serious about the matters, and the way with Sambit Patra," the state Congress president, Keisham Meghachandra Singh told ANI.
After claiming that the Governor had violated Article 174 of the Constitution, he continued his attack and said, "I think the intention is to impose president's rule in the state because the way he (Sambit Patra) walks over here, it is like buying time and it led to the failures in the schemes of the Constitution."
The state congress president further criticised the union government, saying that the people of Manipur have been ignored, and if the ruling party wanted to then they could have selected a new Chief Minister on the same day itself.
"The union government has neglected the state since years back and you can see that the turmoil situation in the state is also neglected by the central government, it is about to complete two years, and now political turmoil is also happening. They (Centre) are not respecting the people of Manipur, being the majority party, even if N Biren Singh resigned, on that day itself they could have appointed a new leader...and the session could have continued. But the governor declared the session as null and void, which is unconstitutional," he said.
Talking further on the anger of the Manipur people, Singh added, "The people of Manipur are not happy with this, and the union government should respect the people's mandate and respect the Constitution also."
Keisham Meghachandra Singh on February 11 had also raised objections to the Governor declaring the Manipur assembly session as "null and void."
"The present political development is something very unconstitutional and there might be a Constitutional crisis. The orders issued by the Governor declaring the summoning of the Assembly session as null and void are illegal and unconstitutional," he told ANI.
Earlier today, Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the state of Manipur, which he said, "has been burning for the last 20 months."
"Manipur has been burning for the last 20 months. So many people have lost their lives, so many properties have been destroyed. People from one area within a state cannot go to another area. This is the pathetic condition of the state in our country...," Venugopal told ANI.
Congress MP Jairam Ramesh also raised concerns over the Manipur Governor's actions, accusing him of violating Article 174(1) of the Indian Constitution which mandates that there should be no more than a six-month gap between two consecutive legislative sessions.
The 7th session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly, which was scheduled to begin on February 10, was declared "null and void" with immediate effect, as per a notice released by Assembly Secretary K. Meghajit Singh on Sunday.
On Thursday, President's Rule was imposed in Manipur, days after BJP leader N Biren Singh resigned as state Chief Minister nearly two years after ethnic violence erupted in the state.
The violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities in Manipur began on May 3, 2023, following a rally by the All Tribal Students Union of Manipur (ATSUM) in response to a Manipur High Court order directing the state to consider the inclusion of the Meitei community in the Scheduled Tribes list.
Over 200 people have been killed in the ethnic conflict and the situation in the state continues to remain tense. (ANI)