Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Rebel Cong MLAs strike confident pose: Imphal, Dec 30: Striking a confident pose, the dissident Congress MLAs who have been demanding a change in the leadership of the Congress Legislature Party have claimed that the AICC may soon take a decision in their favour within the next couple of days. The rebel MLAs, who have raised the banner of revolt against the leadership of Chief Minister O Ibobi for the last few months claim the support of 19 MLAs out of the 31 Congress MLAs in the House of 60. Apart from the deteriorating law and order situation, the rebel MLAs have launched the anti-Ibobi drive on the 'total failure to govern' plank. Significantly, the claim of the rebel MLAs that the AICC may soon take a decision within the next couple of days came after the AICC secretary in charge of North East Prithiviraj Chauhan submitted his report to the AICC leadership after his visit to the State about two weeks back. Apart from getting a first hand account of the law and order situati...

PM pulls up NE leadership: New Delhi, Dec 20: Raising an alarm over unabated extortions in the North-East, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh exhorted the region’s political leadership to buck up and curb militancy to ensure that the people feel safe. In his hard-hitting speech on militancy in the North-East, Dr Singh minced no words when he said, “We need much better leadership at all levels so that militancy is curbed and people feel secure.” “Extortion seems to be a frequent occurrence (in North-East). We need to put an end to this. We need to enforce the rule of law and create a respect for the state apparatus. National considerations and requirements should take overriding priority,” the Prime Minister said, addressing a meeting of the Chief Ministers on Internal Security, convened by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The meeting attended by Union Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, top officials of the Ministry, intelligence agencies among others was held under unprecedented tight security a...

Ibobi, Patil condemn blast: Imphal, Dec 17: Conveying deep anguish on the Pourabi bomb blast, Chief Minister O Ibobi has condemned the act in the strongest term. Speaking from Delhi, the Chief Minister lambasted the blast as the most cowardly act. He noted that no human society can tolerate such brutal act. He also pledged that all those involved in the blast will be hunted down and awarded befitting punishment. While sharing pain and grief of the bereaved families, the Chief Minister assured all possible assistance to families of the deceased and injured. On the other hand, along with retrieving the Canter which suffered impact of the blast by the police, bomb experts of state Police Department investigated the blast site on Monday. The owner of the ill-fated Canter (MN03/5286) has been identified as one Konthoujam Chandramani (62) of Lilong Arapti. The Canter was being driven by his own son identified as K Somendro who escaped unhurt. Meanwhile, Union Home Ministry on Monday sought a...

Five member team heads for Delhi: Imphal, Dec 16: To exert pressure on Delimitation Commission of India, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi in connection with the demand to exempt Manipur from the ongoing delimitation process and to promulgate an ordinance in this regard, a specially selected 5-member delegation of the all political parties left Imphal for Delhi on Sunday. The five-member delegation of the all political parties specially selected for the purpose comprise of MPP president Dr L Chandramani, Legislature Wing leader of the party O Joy, party MLA Dr Ng Bijoy, BJP State unit president Dr Haobam Borbabu and former Minister of CPI Dr M Nara. After an earlier delegation of the all political parties had gone to the national capital to urge the Central leaders not to go ahead with the delimitation exercise in Manipur on the basis of the controversial Census report of 2001, the five-member delegation which left Imphal on Sunday would carry on lobbying...

Ibobi baiters await Delhi envoy : Imphal, Dec. 9: Huddled in well-guarded “camp” since their return from New Delhi, the dissident Congress legislators, who have been lobbying for chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s ouster for the past month, are waiting now with baited breath for AICC observer Prithviraj Chauhan to arrive here on Tuesday. The 14, who have met almost all the senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Shivraj Patil, returned to the state capital only after extracting the promise of Chauhan’s visit from the party high command. Chauhan will to speak to all the Congress legislators and party leaders in Imphal and submit a report on the impasse to the party high command on his return to Delhi. Their fingers crossed, the dissident legislators are now camping in the well-guarded official residence of Laishram Nandakumar Singh, MLA. The MLAs are not being allowed to visit their homes or official quarters. Only their relatives are allowed to meet them at the camp. “All t...

Ibobi-led team leaves for New Delhi to pursue matter: Imphal, Dec 7: An 18-member delegation of political parties of the state, led by chief minister O Ibobi Singh left Imphal for New Delhi this afternoon (Friday) to pressurise the Central authorities not to conduct delimitation work in Manipur based on the flawed 2001 census. The political delegates from the state led by the chief minister will meet the Union home minister Shivraj Patil tomorrow (Saturday) at 11:30 am to be followed by a meeting with the chairman of the Delimitation Commission of India, Justice Kuldip Singh. The team will also meet other Central leaders to seek immediate moratorium on the delimitation exercise for Manipur state based on the 2001 census, according to a source. The delegation from the state includes MPP president Dr L Chandramani, RJD state unit president W Nipamacha, and RJD MLA Md Hellaluddin Khan, state secretary Sarat Salam and Dr Y Mohendro Singh of the CPI(M), health minister Ph Parijat and ex-MLA...