Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee vice president and spokesperson Nongthombam Biren Singh has resigned from the party and the state Assembly. Biren Singh has reportedly had differences with Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the past about the party and its functioning. He was leading a dissent camp in the state for the past one-and-a-half years.
Singh was also responsible for change in state leadership in March and a Cabinet reshuffle in April. He is likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, reported The Economic Times. A senior BJP leader told the newspaper that more than 10 Congress legislators were likely to join their party. This comes only days after senior Congress leader Yumkham Erabot quit the party to join the saffron camp. The state will have Assembly elections in March 2017.
Biren Singh said, "People feel there is no governance now. It is a world record that the bodies of nine tribals have been in the morgue for more than a year. An agreement should have been ironed out and the bodies given a decent burial." Tribals were killed in protests that broke out after the state government passed three contentious Bills about residence rights and land ownership. At least six were killed after security forces opened fire on September 1, 2015.
The Bills were passed in the state Assembly on August 31, 2015. The relatives of the deceased, along with local tribals, have refused to bury the dead unless the state government rolls back the Bills.
The Congress has been facing dissent from within the party across the country. In a major setback to the party, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu led 42 lawmakers out of the Congress to join the People's Party of Arunachal, an ally of the BJP's. He said the step was taken "keeping in view how to bring development to the state", in September. The development came two months after the Supreme Court ordered the restoration of the Congress government in the state. Khandu had proved his party’s majority in the Arunachal Assembly days after the order.
On March 18, the Uttarakhand Congress legislators, including Agriculture Minister Harak Singh Rawat, joined hands with the BJP to topple the Harish Rawat government. Following the political turmoil, President's Rule was imposed in the state. Harish Rawat was, however, reinstated as the chief minister after he took a floor test on May 10 and proved he had the support of the majority of MLAs.
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