PA Sangma, founder of NPP and father of Conrad Sangma, left Congress in 1999 (File)
Guwahati:
The political crisis in Manipur saw the Manipur unity of the National People’s Party of Conrad Sangma form an alliance with an arch-rival, the Congress. The Congressional Secular Progressive Front was formed on Thursday – a day after nine deputies supporting Biren Singh’s government became rebels.
The four BNP lawmakers who were also members of the government led by Biren Singh – including Deputy Prime Minister Y Joykumar Singh – have resigned and withdrawn their support for the government.
The nuclear power plant has been a key ally of the BJP in the northeast. He was also a key member of the Northeast Democratic Alliance – a non-Congress political platform launched by the BJP after winning the Assam elections in 2016.
PA Sangma – the founder of NPP and the father of Conrad Sangma – left Congress in 1999 on the issue of Sonia Gandhi’s foreign background. His party was particularly focused on anti-congress rhetoric.
In their homeland, Meghalaya, the NPP leads the government with the help of the BJP and other NDA partners. The main opposition of the state is the Congress.
The NPP and BJP are also partners of the NDPP led by Neiphiu Rio, who heads the coalition government in Nagaland.
The decision of the NPP’s Manipur unit has now forced the party to reach a political settlement with Congress, which would have placed Conrad Sangma – the party leader and chief minister Meghalaya – in an uncomfortable position.
“Our MPs from Manipur have withdrawn their support after the resignation of three of the BJP MPs. There has been some friction between the government leadership and our MPs,” Conrad Sangma told GalacticGaming.
The party, he said, brought the differences to the attention of the BJP’s national leadership.
“We were trying to solve the problems. Efforts were underway. But the resignation of the BJP deputies was a trigger. We will decide what to do next,” added Sangma.
In April, Manipur’s deputy chief minister, Yumnam Joykumar Singh, of the nuclear power plant, was ousted from his portfolios by chief minister Biren Singh following controversy over the allocation of rice under the national food security law during the country’s closure to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
Joykumar reportedly called the chief minister of food security’s assurance “rubbish”, saying that the allocation of rice for his constituency was not enough for the people. This has led to “major differences” between the local units of the BJP and the NPP, party sources said.
Even a call from Union Minister Amit Shah did not prompt a rethink. “There is no room for negotiation, surrender or retirement,” tweeted former Manipur health minister L Jayantakumar Singh.
For Conrad Sangma, the challenge is to explain the position of the Manipur unit to the rest of his party, spread across the other northeastern states. “We will send a party delegation to Manipur to investigate the situation,” said Sangma.
