Speculation deepens over Biren Singh's fate as 21 NDA MLAs skip meeting called after NPP's withdrawal of support

Guwahati: Manipur CM N. Biren Singh's efforts to pacify the Meitei protesters seemed to have made not much headway with COCOMI, a prominent forum of Meitei organisations, on Tuesday rejecting the resolutions taken in the meeting of at least 26 NDA MLAs on Sunday night.

Talking to reporters in Imphal, Khuraijam Athouba, the spokesperson of the Co-ordination Committee for Manipur Unity (COCOMI) said that the resolutions partially reflected the demands by the Meitei community that focussed on abrogation of the Suspension of Operation agreement with the Kuki insurgent groups.

He said the Meitei organisations want action against all Kuki insurgent groups for the killings instead of a few who were behind the killing of six women and children in Jiribam, recently. "We want the government to review the resolutions within 24-hours, failing which we will continue and intensify our protests," he said. 

The meeting took eight resolutions that included petitioning the Centre for withdrawing the AFSPA, declaring the Kuki insurgents, who were behind the killing of the six as unlawful organisation within a week and handing over three cases to the NIA. 

The Meitei-dominated Valley districts including the state capital Imphal erupted in protest on Saturday (November 16) after bodies of the Meitei women and children, one aged just eight months, were recovered from a river in Jiribam. The six had gone missing during a gunfight near Borobekra police station and a nearby CRPF camp in Jiribam on November 11. Meitei organisations said Kuki insurgents had abducted the six and killed them. 

The protesters attacked the houses of several Ministers and MLAs, some of them set on fire, in Imphal alleging that the BJP-led government failed to rescue the six from the clutches of the Kuki insurgents. The government got a shocker on Sunday when National People's Party (NPP), a key ally, withdrew its support stating that the Biren Singh-led government "miserably failed" to resolve the crisis.

MLAs skip NDA meet    

As NPP sought removal of Biren Singh, the CM convened a meeting of the NDA MLAs on Sunday night. But shock was in store for Biren as at least 21 MLAs including 15 belonging to BJP skipped the meeting. A note shared after the meeting said 11 of them (eight BJP) remained absent without citing any reason while eight mentioned medical grounds. A close aide of Biren and a cabinet minister, Y. Khemchand was among the BJP legislators who skipped the meeting. 

The 21 absent MLAs included the 10 Kuki-Zo legislators, who have maintained distance from the Valley since the conflict started in May last year. 

The note said 26 MLAs attended the meeting, of which 17 belonged to BJP and five Naga People's Front (NPF). Three out of the seven NPP MLAs, surprisingly attended it even as the party withdrew support from Biren Singh government on Sunday. 

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a tweet, however, on Tuesday morning claimed that signatures of three MLAs, who were supposedly present, were forged.  

The day also saw a war of words between the Congress and Biren Singh with the former Union Home Minister P Chidambaram blaming the CM for the violence.

Reacting to Chidambaram's charges, Biren told a news agency  ANI that it was Congress, which encouraged "illegal migration" from Myanmar, which, according to him, has now posed a threat to the indigenous people of Manipur (Meiteis) and led to the conflict.    

Meanwhile, the situation in the Valley remained calm with reports of no violent protest on Tuesday. Two groups of central forces landed in two aircrafts on Tuesday, a day after the MHA decided to rush 50 additional companies (5,000 personnel) as the violence flared up again.