Manipur’s NDA MLAs head to Delhi ahead of one year of President’s Rule, hinting at talks on elected government

Most NDA MLAs from the valley and the Naga community, including former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, flew to Delhi from Imphal Sunday. BJP state president A. Sharda Devi also left on Sunday.

“We have not been informed who will be there from the Centre’s side, or what the agenda is,” said one of the MLAs, who arrived in Delhi on Sunday.

A Kuki-Zo MLA said that BJP MLAs from the community are also likely to participate in such a meeting. On January 13, Kuki-Zo insurgent groups under a Suspension of Operations agreement and MLAs from the community had declared a set of “prerequisites” for participation by the MLAs in a new popular government in the state, primarily a written “political commitment” by the state and central governments on a separate Union Territory for Kuki-Zo-majority areas of the state.

The BJP’s top brass had held a crucial meeting with party MLAs from Manipur on December 14, bringing both Kuki and Meitei legislators under one roof to build engagement between representatives from both communities — a prerequisite, leaders believe, for any credible move towards government formation. There have been months of sustained pressure from Manipur’s Meitei and Naga NDA legislators to replace President’s Rule with an elected government, while there has been uncertainty over whether the Kuki-Zo MLAs would join a new popular state government.