Rift in National People's Party as all seven MLAs boycott state executive meeting in Manipur

The National People's Party (NPP) in Manipur is battling a rift as none of its seven MLAs attended the state executive meeting held on Tuesday.

The party is divided on whether to continue supporting the Biren Singh-led BJP government in Manipur or not. The BJP on its own has the majority in the state but is supporting the NPP-led government in Meghalaya.

The Manipur unit of NPP had convened a meeting on Tuesday to deliberate on the matter arising out of indefinite postponement of a national executive meeting of the party scheduled to be held in New Delhi on October 5 by its national president Conrad K Sangma, who is also the chief minister of Meghalaya.


A senior NPP leader, who did not want to be named, told ET, "NPP Manipur executive met again on Tuesday to address key issues, including the party's position regarding BJP. It was attended by senior leaders, including NPP national vice president Yumnam Joykumar, Y Irabot and N Mangi, former MLA S Sobhachandra. However, the absence of seven MLAs raised concerns in the party." He added, "The state executive members expressed their dissatisfaction with the lack of clarity regarding the postponed October 5 meeting. Several leaders want the party leadership to pull out of the Manipur government in view of prolonged ethnic strife in the state."

On Thursday several NPP leaders joined Congress, including former MLA L Jayantakumar Singh and Romen Singh.