A day after withdrawing support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, NPP national president and Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today said that the withdrawal of support was specific to Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh.
Talking to media persons here today, Sangma clarified that the NPP’s withdrawal of support is only from the Biren Singh-led government and not from the BJP or the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
Sangmaalso said that he has lost complete confidence in Biren Singh after seeing the suffering of people, especially in the last week, and the deteriorating situation in Manipur.
“We have withdrawn our support to the Biren Singh-led government, so it is very specific to him, the individual. If we see that there is a change in leadership, a positive step forward and a plan to find a solution and we can constructively cooperate and contribute so that peace and normalcy return, then we will be happy to be working (with BJP) but we will see the situation. It is difficult to say right now,” Sangma said.
He also said that if there is a leadership change and positive impact, the NPP would again consider supporting the Manipur government.
Sangma also said that following the deterioration of the law and order situation in Manipur he called up the central leaders of the BJP suggesting for confidence-building measures.
“The actions taken were not reaching a logical conclusion because of the trust deficit and hence, we stressed that some kinds of trust-building measures must be taken from the government side, Centre as well as state, to be able to then create that environment for the actions to actually have a positive result. That, in a way, was not done,” the NPP national president said.
The NPP has been supporting the BJP-led government in Manipur since it first came to power in Manipur in 2017 defeating the Congress.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, the NPP secured seven seats in the 60-member house and continued to support the BJP-led government in the state.
However, the withdrawal of support by NPP will not have any impact on the survival of the Biren Singh government as the BJP has a majority on its own in the Manipur Assembly. The party has 37 members in the 60-member strong Assembly.
