Manipur National People’s Party (NPP) president Thangminlien Kipgen has placed on record the reason why NPP withdrew its support from the present BJP-led state government headed by N Biren Singh while India is facing COVID-19 pandemic in general and Manipur in particular.
A release signed by NPP president Thangminlien Kipgen stated that the BJP-led government in Manipur was formed in 2017 with five political parties.
“But till today, N Biren Singh-led government is running in an autocratic manner and refuses to form a ‘Steering Committee’ in order to bring confidence amongst the coalition partners in the coalition government despite our repeated reminder to the chief minister,” it said.
At the time of formation of government in March, 2017, NPP had proposed to have a ‘Common Minimum Programme’ for the development of the state of Manipur on priority basis; however, it could not be materialized in spite of repeated reminders to the chief minister, it added.
Concerning the name of the coalition government, the release said that every political party has its own political ideology and identity. However, the coalition government of five political parties should be christened by a name of the coalition front but they did not take heed and turned deaf ears to it by the BJP led government, the release said.
Just after the formation of BJP-led government in 2017, BJP has forgotten about the existence of NPP and the role they played during the formation of BJP-led government in 2017, it alleged. There was no consultation of NPP while taking any major decision for the state by BJP, it further said while adding “even they have failed to serve an invitation to us at any national or state functions”.
Concerning the allotment of ministerial portfolios, “I was neither consulted nor informed with regards to allotment/removal of Portfolios to the ministers of my party where deputy chief minister Y Joykumar Singh, to cite as an example, being discharged off his duties as deputy chief minister without portfolio for the last few months which will remained as a record in the history of Manipur,” the release said.
The statement of MLA and spokesperson of BJP S Rajen Singh with regards to the distribution of rice under National Food Security Act (NFSA) which leads to an altercation with the deputy chief minister, the verbal and un-parliamentarian language he used ( “if you have the guts, all four ministers must resigned from the Ministry”) was highly objectionable and condemnable, the release mentioned. In spite of his accusation, he remained silent and practiced restraint to safeguard the coalition spirit, it said.
“As partners in the BJP-led government, headed by N Biren Singh, my party was not invited or consulted to share our views and ideas to decide on a consensus candidate of 2017 Rajya - Sabha Election, 2019 Lok-Sabha Election and in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha Election, 2020. This authoritarian style or functioning of the present government is autocratic and undemocratic,” the release said.
“Therefore, taking all the above issues into account, my party finally decided to withdraw our support to the BJP government in the state,” it added.
