Is a no confidence motion on the horizon ?
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, February 04 2025: With the seventh session of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly approaching fast, the possibility of a no confidence motion against Chief Minister N Biren is taking a concrete shape.

Sources in different political parties said that the violent crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023 is one major reason for the strong possibility of raising a no confidence motion against the N Biren Government.

Notably, N Biren has been serving as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second term and the second term is on the verge of completing three years.

The violent crisis which erupted on May 3, 2023 has claimed hundreds of lives including children in their mothers' bosoms, a large number of people are missing, tens of thousands have been displaced and majority of them have been leading wretched lives in relief camps.

Moreover, there have been instances of displaced people committing suicide in relief camps.

So far, six such cases of suicide have been reported.

On account of the crisis, Meiteis still cannot go to places dominated by Kukis and vice versa.

Even the Chief Minister himself cannot go to places dominated by Kukis.

Even though the Biren Government took up several measures to mitigate the people's suffering, particularly those affected by the crisis, the State Government is still unable to restore peace and normalcy even after 22 months of the crisis, said representatives of some political parties.

Chief Minister N Biren should have shown on the floor of the State Assembly that his Government was still enjoying majority at the time when KPA and NPP withdrew support to his Government.

Had Chief Minister N Biren shown his Government's strength after KPA and NPP had withdrawn their support, the issue could have been handled in a very dignified manner.

It is a tradition for a Government to show its strength when any political party withdraws its support to the Government.

But N Biren did not do any such thing, they said.

In case a no confidence motion is raised in the State Assembly, it throws up a very interesting question whether it is the Opposition Congress MLAs or BJP's own MLAs whom the Biren Government must face.

CLP leader and former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi has already made it clear that any no confidence motion raised by the five Congress MLAs alone will never be successful.

On the other hand, Union Home Minister Amit Shah invited RD&PR Minister Yumnam Khemchand to Delhi on February 3 for a talk after holding a similar talk with Manipur Legislative Assembly Speaker Th Satyabrata some days back.

Khemchand and BJP North East in-charge Dr Sambit Patra held a meeting at Delhi yesterday and Khemchand reportedly came out of the meeting after placing only two/three key points.

It is said that Khemchand would wait for a meeting with Amit Shah till tomorrow, which is likely.

Generally, no confidence motions are raised by Opposition parties in Parliament/Assembly but at present there are only five Opposition (Congress) MLAs in the State Assembly.

If the Congress party with just five MLAs raises a no confidence motion against the Government, the outcome is known to all.

But what will be interesting is how the ruling legislators react or respond to such a no confidence motion, said the political parties' representatives.

Comment