Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and at least 12 lawmakers of the State have taken their alleged internal fight to New Delhi.
This followed differences between Mr. Singh and two senior members of his Cabinet because of a financial crisis that saw the Reserve Bank of India stop honouring government bills and cheques since June 12.
Since Thursday, Mr. Singh and the 12 lawmakers – they include MPs, Ministers and MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party, the National People’s Party (NPP), and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) – have been camping in Delhi. Some of these lawmakers are among the 17 BJP legislators who had reportedly written to the party’s Central leadership seeking the Chief Minister’s removal.
The NPP and the NPF are allies of the BJP in the coalition government that Mr. Singh heads in Manipur.
Mr. Singh met Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday. He apprised the Minister of the present financial position of the State, said a tweet from the Manipur CM’s Office.
Mr. Singh played down reports of rift in the BJP or the coalition. “Nothing of the sort has happened,” he told The Hindu.
Minister Thongam Bishwajit, who was stripped of his Public Works Department and Power portfolios as “punishment” for the State’s overdraft situation, denied spearheading the rebellion within the BJP against Mr. Singh. “I am not hungry for power,” he said.
Along with Mr. Bishwajit, the Chief Minister had also divested Deputy Chief Minister Yumnam Joykumar of his Finance portfolio for “fiscal indiscipline”. Mr. Joykumar belongs to the NPP.
The State government had ordered a probe into cases of withdrawal of funds totalling ₹300 crore by the Department of Public Works and Power. Two Ministers were stripped of their portfolios — Public Works Department and Finance — in the wake of the fiscal crisis.
State Congress president Gaikhangam said the Chief Minister should explain the withdrawal of money since financial bills exceeding ₹2 crore were approved by him.
Mr. Gaikhangam said that instead of attending to the issues confronting the State, the Ministers and MLAs were “campaigning in Delhi for political power”.
(Inputs from Iboyaima Laithangbam)
