New Delhi: A delegation of MPs from opposition parties of the INDIA bloc reached Imphal on Saturday to assess the ground situation in the violence-torn Manipur, days after a viral video intensified the ongoing debate over the law and order in the northeastern state.
After reaching the state capital, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the team is not there for politics and is trying for peaceful solutions to end the conflict in Manipur. Party MP Gaurav Gogoi said that they come to Manipur to represent the concerns of the people of the state.
“We have several demands from the Governor, we want to conduct a survey and have discussions among ourselves before taking any call,” Chowdhury said.
This comes after the opposition’s demand seeking PM Narendra Modi’s statement on the issue inside both Houses of Parliament hindered the proceedings in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, before departure, Adhir Ranjan Chaudhary spoke to reporters in Delhi. He said that they want to visit as many relief camps in Manipur as possible and talk to the affected people. The opposition bloc reportedly had written to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, who allowed the delegation to visit the state. The delegation would be State Governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday morning, the report stated.
Notably, the leaders have sought to use helicopters in Manipur and so that they can visit the far-flung areas of Churachandpur, where fresh violence has taken place. Congress’s deputy leader in the lower house Gaurav Gogoi sought an inquiry led by a retired Supreme Court judge into the violence in Manipur.
The delegation includes Congress MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Gaurav Gogoi, Sushmita Dev (Trinamool Congress), Mahua Maji (Jharkhand Mukti Morcha), Kanimozhi (DMK), Mohammad Faizal (Nationalist Congress Party), Jayant Chaudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal), Manoj Kumar Jha (Rashtriya Janata Dal), N K Premachandran (Revolutionary Socialist Party) and T Thirumavalavan (VCK).
Janata Dal (United) chief Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan) Singh, Aneel Prasad Hegde (JD-U), CPI’s Sandosh Kumar, CPI-M’s A A Rahim, Samajwadi Party’s Javed Ali Khan, IUML’s E T Mohammed Basheer, AAP’s Sushil Gupta, Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), D Ravikumar (DMK), Phulo Devi Netam and K Suresh (Congress) are also part of the delegation, which is scheduled to return to Delhi on Sunday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has called the visit a âshow-offâ.