Kolkata: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi is likely to visit Manipur and interact with the internally displaced people (IDP) in Nov-end, Manipur Congress Legislature Party leader Keisham Meghachandra said on Monday.Talking to TOI exclusively from Delhi after a party meeting, Meghachandra said the top Congress brass considered the current violent incidents in Manipur as the failure of the double-engine BJP govt at the Centre and in Manipur.“We wonder why the BJP govt is keeping the violence raging in Manipur for years and not interested in ending it,” Meghachandra quoted AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge as saying during the meeting.During the meeting held at 10 Rajaji Marg, the official residence of Kharge, around 11 am, the party elucidated the reasons for blaming the govt for the violence, with Rahul expressing deep concern over the living conditions of the IDPs.The party functionaries also said there seemed to have been some commitment given by the BJP govt to the Kuki-Zo community just before the May 3, 2023, violence that vitiated the state’s environment.Pointing out ‘groupism’ within BJP, Congress functionaries said different views aired by the factions of the saffron party contributed to the violence. They were referring to Manipur deputy CM Losii Dikho publicly blaming his counterpart in the CM Y Khemchand ministry, Nemcha Kipgen, for the killing of Naga villagers, and the Kuki-Zo community demanding Dikho’s resignation after two Kuki-Zo youths, who recently went missing, were found dead on Sunday.Airing his opinion in the party meeting, Meghachandra said, “The state govt doesn’t seem to take the law and order seriously because incidents of killings and violence are happening in the state almost every day despite the presence of a huge number of security personnel.”Monday’s meeting, attended by state Congress president O Ibobi Singh, AICC in-charge of Manipur Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka, Victor Keishing from the Naga community and Manga Vaiphei, a Kuki-Zo, also expressed confidence that the people of Manipur will unseat the BJP govt and Congress will return to office with a huge mandate after the upcoming assembly election, likely to be held in 2027.2 Kuki-Zo politicians join CongKolkata: Two Kuki Zo politicians, Chaltolian Amo, former minister who had represented Tipaimukh assembly constituency in Churachandpur district, and D P Haokip of Saikot constituency in the same district joined Congress in New Delhi in the presence of AICC Manipur in-charge Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka and state Congress president O Ibobi Singh. TNN
