Opposition MLAs walk out from Manipur Assembly, boycott sessions over Manipur crisis

Imphal: Five Congress MLAs walked out of the ongoing Assembly session on Friday and boycotted the remaining sessions after their appeal, to take a unanimous decision in the House to seek an appointment with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was rejected.

The five MLAs were former chief minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi, former Speaker Th. Lokeshwar, president of Manipur PCC, K. Meghachandra, K. Ranjit and Surjakumar Okram.

The 6th session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly began on July 31 and scheduled to conclude on August 12.

People have been demanding the government to approach the Prime Minister to tackle the crisis in Manipur the erupted on May 3, last year.

Opposition MLAs from the Congress party appealed to the ruling parties to take a unanimous decision in the House to seek an appointment with the PM to resolve the crisis in Manipur.

Opposition MLA Th. Lokeswar urged chief minister N. Biren Singh to seek an appointment with the Prime Minister. He proposed that all the MLAs of Manipur would approach the Prime Minister together to solve the crisis.

The five opposition MLAs, submitted notices for private members’ resolutions to the Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly on August 2. The notice was rejected by the Speaker which was to be discussed on Friday’s sitting.

The notice mentioned “To resolve a unanimous decision of all the members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly that the Prime Minister of India should have a thorough discussion with the Members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly on the matter of the endless and perpetual crisis in the state of Manipur, to bring peace, normalcy, harmony, and safety for the people of Manipur, who are citizens of the country.”

Ibobi told reporters outside the Assembly campus that as the ruling party failed to heed the proposal to approach the Prime Minister the five opposition MLAs submitted a notice as a private members’ resolution to take a unanimous decision in the House. However, the Speaker rejected the notice.

“So it is not necessary to continue the session, the opposition boycotts the remaining session” Ibobi said.