Imphal
The curtain came down on Thursday on the week-long political turbulence in Manipur with all four National People's Party (NPP) MLAs submitting a letter backing embattled Chief Minister Biren Singh to Governor Najma Heptulla, days after they resigned as ministers and joined forces with the opposition Congress.
NPP chief Conrad Sangma, who arrived in Imphal in the afternoon, said his party MLAs will withdraw their resignation which were not accepted by the governor yet.
The efforts to salvage the BJP government came to fru- ition after the MLAs were flown to Delhi by Sangma, also the Meghalaya CM, and BJP's pointsman in the North-East Himanta Biswa Sarma, for a meet with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda. The four had complained about "mistreatment" by the CM.
With their return to the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the BJP-led coalition of parties in the re- gion, the Biren Singh government now has the sup- port of 27 MLAs in the assembly whose strength has come down to 52 after the resignations and disqualifica- tion of eight lawmakers.
Accompanied by Sangma and Sarma, the four MLAs drove down to the CM’s office from Raj Bhavan where Singh warmly received them and all shook hands with each other. Since their resig- nation were yet to be accept- ed, all the four technically re- main ministers and need not take oath afresh. “We had meetings with Nadda and Shah, and we expressed all our grievances and concerns we had as a part of this al- liance,” Sangma told re- porters outside the airport.
“Both the leaders under- stood and assured us all the issues will be addressed and taken care of,” he said. Congress accused BJP of murdering democracy by sinister efforts to remain in power.
Graft case: CBI grills retd IAS officer
NEW DELHI/IMPHAL: A day after questioning former Manipur CM O Ibobi Singh in the Rs332 crore misappropriation case, the CBI questioned Naba Kishore Singh, then chairman of the Manipur Development Society (MDS). The retired IAS officer was questioned by the CBI team led by Joint Director NM Singh, who reached Imphal on Tuesday for questioning the former CM and others. During the questioning that started at 11.30 am at the CBI office in Imphal, the team asked Naba Kishore Singh about the misappropriation of funds and the projects sanctioned, when he was the MDS Chairman. According to sources, the agency also examined a few more people in connection with the case. During his tenure as the MDS Chairman from June 2009 to July 2017, it’s alleged, the former Chief Minister conspired and misappropriated Rs332 crore of the Rs518 crore government fund entrusted to the MDS for development works.
