Amit Shah to campaign for Lok Sabha polls in strife-torn Manipur on April 15

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will campaign in ethnic strife-torn Manipur on Monday, besides visiting Tripura and Rajasthan to garner support for BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha polls, sources said.

Shah will address a rally in Imphal seeking votes for Thounaojam Basanta Kumar Singh, the education minister of the northeastern state who is also the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) candidate from the Inner Manipur constituency in the upcoming election.

The seat is currently held by BJP leader and Minister of State for External Affairs Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.

The Inner Manipur Lok Sabha segment has 32 Assembly constituencies across the conflict-scarred Imphal valley.

Ethnic violence broke out in Manipur on May 3, 2023 after a tribal solidarity march was organised in the state's hill districts to protest against the majority Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Since then, more than 220 people have been killed in the continuing violence.

The BJP has not fielded any candidate from Outer Manipur, the other Lok Sabha seat in the northeastern state, and extended support to the candidate of the Naga People's Front's (NSF), its partner in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Before the rally in Imphal, Shah will address a public meeting in the morning at Kumarghat in Agartala under the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency.

In the evening, the home minister will participate in a road-show in Jaipur to garner support for the BJP candidates in Rajasthan.

The Lok Sabha polls are scheduled to be held in seven phases starting April 19 and the counting of votes will be taken up on June 4.