Manipur burning, PM hasn't visited state and Shah not taking action: K C Venugopal

Nagpur: Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Sunday said Manipur is burning but it is painful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has not even visited the state and Union Home Minister Amit Shah is not taking any action to resolve the issue.

Manipur has been on the boil since May last year due to ethnic strife between Imphal Valley-based Meiteis and adjoining hills-based Kuki-Zo groups, leaving more than 200 dead and largescale arson damaging property worth several crore rupees.

In an interview with PTI Videos, Venugopal said, "What is happening in Manipur? (Union) Home Minister is busy campaigning (for elections), our PM is abroad and one state of ours is burning." "The situation of Manipur is painful for every Indian. The PM has not even visited the state, (Union) Home Minister is not taking any action. Rahul Gandhi is talking about the real issues of this country," he added.

Speaking about BJP slogans like 'batenge toh katenge' (divided we perish), Venugopal said his party did not believe in such accusations and counter-accusations and was contesting the Maharashtra polls on real issues.

Giving an example, he said farmers in Nagpur are suffering due to the poor policies of the Modi government.

"This election is a fight between the poor and the rich. We stand for the poor, while the other side's agenda is solely to divide people," the Lok Sabha MP from Alappuzha in Kerala asserted.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi is fighting the election unitedly and will surely win, he said.

The chief minister will be decided within 24 hours of the results being declared, he added.

Polls to the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held on November 20, while votes will be counted on November 23.

The MVA, comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), is pitted against the ruling alliance of the BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.