National People’s Party (NPP) chief Conrad Sangma and North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convener Himanta Biswa Sarma arrived in Imphal on Sunday reportedly to resolve the political crisis prevailing in the state.
The NPP chief and NEDA convener came out on a special chartered flight that landed at the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal this afternoon. From the Airport, the two headed in separate ways to meet their respective party members, sources said.
According to a highly reliable source from NPP, Sangma had a close-door meeting with four of his MLAs, who had recently walked out from the BJP-led coalition government. The meeting that lasted for several hours, however, was inconclusive.
The same source disclosed that Sangma tried to talk the aggrieved NPP MLAs into resolving the political crisis. It is learned that two senior members of the NPP were to come to Imphal for the same reason. However, Union Home Minister Amit Shah allegedly requested Sangma to pay a visit, added the source.
Against this backdrop, the NPP Manipur unit president Thangmilien Kipgen issued a statement explaining the reason behind his party withdrawing his support.
Kipgen said that the BJP never consulted its allies in the event of taking any major decision.
Over two and a half years into the formation of the coalition, the BJP-led coalition failed to bring out a “Common Minimum Programme” despite repeated request by its coalition partner, added Kipgen. Moreover, the BJP government also failed to take heed on the proposal of a name for the coalition among others, he said.
“This authoritarian style functioning of the present Government is autocratic and undemocratic.Therefore, taking all the issues into account, my party finally decided to withdraw our support to BJP government in the State”, the NPP president said.
Sangma who was supposed to leave Imphal around 7pm, left the state capital around 10 pm along with Sarma. Sangma and Himanta also met Chief Minister N Biren Singh in between their stay in Imphal.
On Wednesday, NPP a major ally of the BJP led coalition Government in Manipur withdrew its support to the government and forged an alliance with the Congress party which is the main opposition in the state with 21 MLAs.
The NPP has four members in the Assembly of which three are ministers. Joining the NPP were lone MLA of Trinamool Congress and an independent MLA. The effective strength of the BJP is 18 MLAs supported by four Naga People's Front (NPF), one Lok Janshakti Party.
