One-day Manipur Assembly session today, Kuki MLAs likely to skip

Imphal: The crucial one-day session of the Manipur Assembly on Tuesday is likely to hold a discussion on the state’s prevailing situation of ethnic strife, though most of the Kuki MLAs, regardless of party affiliations, are likely to skip the session over safety concerns.

Six of the ten MLAs from Kuki dominated areas have already sought leave of absence from the speaker of the assembly.

The government had last month recommended a session by August 21, but later revised it to August 28 on not getting a green light from the Raj Bhavan. Last week, the Chief Minister's Office announced the assembly will reconvene from August 29.

The previous Assembly session was held in March and according to the norms, a session must be held every six months.

The Committee on Tribal Unity (CoTU) and the Indigenous Tribal Leaders Forum (ITLF) had recently denounced the convening of the session saying the present situation is not conducive for Kuki-Zo MLAs to attend.

In a joint statement on Sunday, both the organisations said considering the complete breakdown of law and order and the failure of the state government in protecting the lives of the common people and officials, convening the session "is devoid of logic and rationality."

On Saturday, former Manipur chief minister and Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh had said the session is an eyewash and not in public interest.

More than 160 people lost their lives and several hundreds were injured since ethnic clashes broke out in Manipur on May 3.