Former BJP MLA Telvum Thangzalam Haokip, a former Deputy Speaker in the Manipur Assembly, is among the three persons arrested after Monday's flare-up in Imphal. Fresh tension was reported in Imphal in New Checkon Bazaar, a mixed population locality, on Monday. A mob set fire to abandoned homes, belonging to members of the Kuki community, after an altercation when some miscreants tried to force vendors to shut shop. Security personnel arrested two armed men and ex-MLA Haokip following the tension. Manipur security adviser Kuldeep Singh told reporters that the three had been arrested for allegedly "intimidating shopkeepers". Haokip had been elected on a BJP ticket to the Manipur Assembly in 2017 from the Henglep constituency, which is a part of Churachandpur district. In 2020, he, along with two other legislators, resigned from the BJP and the Assembly and joined the Congress. However, ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections, he joined the Shiv Sena. His earlier term in the Assembly had been when he had won the 1998 bypoll to the Henglep constituency on a Congress ticket. He was made the Deputy Speaker in the Assembly. Meanwhile, following the incidents on Monday, firefighters decided to go on a strike on Tuesday in protest against an alleged assault on five of their colleagues by personnel of 16 Jat Regiment.Speaker among three held
