By Saraswat Kashyap: Speaking on the speculation about the brewing rift within the Manipur BJP, state Chief Minister N Biren Singh said there was no crisis within the party as leaders – except a few with apparent reasons – attended an urgent meeting convened by the party.

“One of the ministers did not attend the meeting after seeking my permission as he had some important engagement. He is off to Madhya Pradesh’s Indore, while another three are undergoing medical treatment in Delhi. That’s all; there is no crisis within the party as all others have attended the meeting,” said Chief Minister Biren Singh.

However, a senior party leader on condition of anonymity said, “Some of the leaders are camping in the national capital to meet the high command.”

Assumptions of a rift within the party grew after an MLA, P Brojen Singh, resigned as the chairman of the Manipur Development Society, as Brojen was the third MLA to lay his hands off from such an important post, that too, within a week. Later, in a letter addressed to Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the legislator cited some personal reasons for resigning from the post.

KARAM SHYAM

Apart from Brojen, former minister and sitting MLA Karam Shyam on Monday tendered his resignation from the Chairmanship of the Manipur Tourism Corporation.

Shyam, who represented the Langthabal Assembly constituency, expressed his resentment in his resignation letter, saying that he decided to resign as he was not assigned any responsibility as a chairman ever since he assumed charge of the office on November 21, 2022.

Shyam claimed that though he had submitted many proposals to the chief minister on several developmental works related to the tourism corporation, it was quite disappointing that he never got any positive response from their leader.

THOKCHOM RADHESHYAM SINGH

First to quit the post was cop-turned-politician Thokchom Radheshyam Singh, who quit as an advisor to the chief minister last week.

Former IPS officer Radheshyam, who took voluntary retirement from police service to join politics, was elected as a member of the legislative Assembly from the Heirok constituency in Thoubal district in the 2022 state Assembly elections.

Radheshyam promptly disclosed his decision to quit citing the same reason as Shyam. Ironically, both Karam Shyam and Thokchom Radheshyam Singh had served as ministers during the party’s first regime in the state.

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