B L Santhosh, Sambit Patra meet Manipur BJP MLAs; speculation rife

New Delhi, Dec 16 (PTI) Speculation is rife over the BJP's next move in Manipur after two senior central leaders had a long meeting with party legislators from the Northeastern state, which has been under President's rule for the last 10 months.

"The discussion centred on the peace and progress of Manipur," the party had posted on X after BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh and its Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra met the MLAs from Manipur on Sunday, with legislators from both warring communities -- Meitei and Kuki -- under one roof.

The two central leaders are believed to have asked the Meitei and Kuki MLAs to jointly work for bridging gaps between the two communities so that a lasting peace could be established in Manipur, sources said.

Though the issue of formation of a popular government was discussed at the meeting, held at the BJP headquarters here, there has been no indication from the central leaders what could be the future course of action from the Centre, the sources said.

Manipur BJP President A Sharda Devi also attended the meeting.

Over 30 BJP MLAs attended the meeting, including Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly T Satyabrata Singh and former chief minister N Biren Singh.

Among the seven BJP MLAs from the Kuki community, four participated in the meeting while three Kuki MLAs could not attend apparently due to some "unavoidable reasons", sources said.

Uneasy peace prevails in the state amid efforts from the central government to bring the two communities to the negotiating table.

Manipur has been under President's rule since February 13 after then chief minister N Biren Singh, who was heading a BJP-led government, resigned on February 9 following ethnic violence that claimed over 260 lives since May 2023.

The 60-member state assembly, which has a tenure till 2027, has been put under suspended animation.

After the imposition of the President's rule, Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla had taken a number of steps to restore peace and bring back normalcy, including asking those who looted arms from security forces to surrender them.

The violence between the Meitei and Kuki communities started after a 'Tribal Solidarity March' was organised in the hill districts to protest against the Meitei community's demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status. PTI ACB RT RT