One of the two Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in the Manipur Assembly on Wednesday resigned from the party and joined the Congress. Khumukcham Joykishan Singh’s resignation was a mark of his protest against the Centre’s inability to end a crisis that emerged after United Naga Council members launched an indefinite economic blockade in the state on November 1.
“The people of Manipur have been facing untold miseries owing to the economic blockade for the last 51 days,” Singh told The Times of India. His resignation is being seen as a blow to the BJP, as the state goes in for Assembly elections early next year. However, the party said Singh had resigned of his own volition. “His resignation will not affect the party’s prospects in the coming election,” a BJP leader told the daily.
The state BJP members also claimed that Centre has been very active and had sent paramilitary forces to the state to protect the national highways.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh (pictured above) told The Indian Express that the United Naga Council was responsible for the tension in the state. He said the outfit was a “mouthpiece and frontal organisation” of the insurgent group of NSCN-IM. He also accused the Centre of inaction. “Since the...
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