Manipur CM Biren Singh meets with representatives of 10 political parties to address current situation

Imphal: Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh said he has chaired a meeting with representatives of 10 political parties to address the current situation in the ethnic violence-hit state.

He also said "constructive discussions'" were held during the meeting at the CM secretariat on Sunday.

"Chaired a meeting with representatives of the 10 political parties at my secretariat to address the current situation in Manipur."

"Constructive discussions were held, reflecting a united commitment to navigate challenges and work collectively for the well-being of our state," Singh said on social media.

After Sunday's meeting, Congress Legislative Party leader Okram Ibobi said the "10 political parties have urged the chief minister to seek an appointment with the prime minister and his intervention to end the more-than-8-month-long crisis".

"Protecting the lives and properties of the people is the duty of the state government and the state has the right to ask the Centre for manpower and tools required for that," Ibobi said.

Representatives of the Congress, JD(U), Trinamool Congress, AAP and CPI were among those who participated in the meeting.

Manipur has been rocked by ethnic violence since May last year and over 180 people were killed.

The violence erupted on May 3 after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.

Meiteis account for about 53 per cent of Manipur’s population and live mostly in the Imphal Valley, while tribals, which include Nagas and Kukis, constitute 40 per cent and reside mostly in the hill districts.

The chief minister also held a meeting on Sunday with the state ministers and MLAs of the ruling alliance.

However, five MLAs, including Wangjing Tentha legislator Paonam Brojen and Uripok MLA Kh Raghumani, were absent from the meeting.

Brojen and Raghumani had cited medical reasons, an official said.

Notably, Brojen had, in April last year, resigned from the chairman post of the Manipur Development Society while Raghumani had stepped down from the chairmanship of the Manipur Renewable Energy Development Agency in the same month.