Guwahati: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has made it clear that there is no rift of crisis within the saffron party in the hill state.
It was presumed that a big political crisis had mounted over the ruling party in the state after three of its legislators tendered their resignation from different administrative posts.
Earlier on Friday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had convened an urgent meeting of all its leaders in the state capital Imphal.
However, some of its legislators decided to stay away and not to attend the meeting.
While briefing the media person in Imphal, Chief Minister Singh said, “One of the ministers did not attend the meet owing to some important personal engagement and he sought permission from me on this. He is off to Indore in Madhya Pradesh. Another three are undergoing medical treatment in Delhi. That’s all; there is no crisis whatsoever within the party and all others have attended the meeting.”
“Some of the leaders are camping in the national capital to meet the high command,” a senior party leader said on condition of anonymity.
Assumptions of a rift within the party lines became rife after MLA P Brojen Singh resigned as the Chairman of the Manipur Development Society.
Singh was the third such MLA to lay his hands off from such an important post, that too, within a week’s time.
In a letter addressed to Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the legislator cited some personal reasons for resigning from the post.
On the other hand, former minister and sitting MLA Karam Shyam on Monday too tendered his resignation from the Chairmanship of the Manipur Tourism Corporation.
Shyam, who represented the Langthabal Assembly constituency, was open to express his resentment in his resignation letter saying that he has decided to resign as he was not assigned any responsibility as a chairman, ever since he assumed charge of the office of the Tourism Corporation on November 21, 2022.
Shyam lamented that though he had submitted many proposals to the Chief Minister on several developmental works related to the tourism corporation, it was quite disappointing that he never got any positive response from their leader
First to quit the post and party was cop-turned-politician Thokchom Radheshyam Singh, who quit as advisor to the state Chief Minister last week.
Former IPS officer Radheshyam, who took voluntary retirement from police service to join politics, had been elected as a member of the Legislative Assembly from the Heirok constituency in Thoubal district in the 2022 state Assembly elections.
Radheshyam was prompt in disclosing his decision to quit citing the same reason as Shyam.
Ironically, both Karam Shyam and Thokchom Radheshyam Singh had served as ministers during the party’s first regime in the state.
The BJP notched a thumping majority by bagging 32 seats in the 60-member house in the last Assembly elections held in the February-March, 2022.