Manipur crisis: NPP may restore support to state govt if Biren Singh is replaced, says chief Conrad Sangma

Sangma also said that the Centre did not act on NPP"s requests to build trust to end the conflict

Guwahati: A day after withdrawing support to N. Biren Singh-led government, Meghalaya CM and chief of National People's Party (NPP) categorically said that his party may restore the support if Singh is replaced.

"It is specific to the individual, Biren Singh. If we see that there is a change in leadership, if we see that there is a positive step forward and there is a plan to move forward to find resolution and we can constructively contribute to ensure that peace and normalcy returns, we will be happy to work together again. But that depends on the situation, it is difficult to say right now," Sangma told reporters in Shillong on the sidelines of the Shillong Literary Festival.

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In a letter to BJP president JP Nadda on Sunday, Sangma said that the Manipur government under the leadership of Biren Singh completely failed to resolve the crisis and restore normalcy. The NPP has seven MLAs in the House of 60.

Elaborating on the reasons behind NPP's decision, Sangma on Monday said the Centre did not act on his party's requests to build trust in Manipur in order to resolve the conflict that has roiled the state since May last year.

"I have been discussing with a number of leaders from the Centre as well as the BJP and sharing with them that it is important to create confidence building measures and trust in the system and the overall scenario over there. Because of the trust deficit, the overall activities and actions being taken are not reaching a logical conclusion. That was in a way not done. But still we were hopeful that things would improve. But in the last one week, we have seen the situation further deteriorate. Hence, we felt strongly that seeing the suffering of the people, we lost confidence in the current leadership of Biren Singh," Sangma said.

The NPP's withdrawal, however, does not pose an immediate threat to the Biren Singh government as BJP alone has 37 MLAs now. In the 2022 Assembly elections, BJP had won 32 seats (in the House of 60) while five out of six Janta Dal (United) MLAs had joined BJP later in the year.

Ten MLAs, representing the Kuki-Zo community, including seven belonging to BJP, have maintained distance since the Meitei-Kuki conflict started but have not resigned.

Boost from NPF:

On Monday, the Naga People's Front (NPF), another ally, clarified that it would continue to support the government and cooperate in resolving the conflict.

NPP was the second ally to quit the BJP-led government, after Kuki People's Alliance (KPA) parted ways in August last year. KPA has two MLAs.