IMPHAL: The Communist Party of India (CPI), which has been the ruling coalition partner for the last seven years, has decided to leave the Secular Progressive Front (SPF) Ministry.
Sources in the CPI said that Minister of Health and Family Welfare Pheiroijam Parijat had been asked by the central committee of the party to tender his resignation.
N. Mangi, chairman, Manipur Industrial Development Corporation Ltd. with the rank and status of a minister of state, will also be submitting his resignation.
Police excesses alleged The former Minister from the CPI, Moirangthem Nara, who was the secretary of the SPF Steering Committee, resigned last week in protest against alleged excesses of policemen and the government’s ham-handed handling of the alleged fake encounter which left two persons, including a pregnant woman, dead and five others injured on July 23 in Imphal.
Senior CPI leaders said that for quite some time, the Chief Minister and other senior Ministers had not been taking the party into confidence on major issues. More recently, the Mr. Singh did not consult CPI leaders on the alleged fake encounter and its fallout. These ‘insulting dealings’ showed that he did not regard the CPI as a partner of the Ministry, they said.
Seven police commandos were suspended to protect the police high-ups, they said.
They also added that when a Chief Minister or a Minister made a misleading statement in the Assembly, he resigned on moral grounds. They were indirectly referring to the “misleading” statement of the Chief Minister in the Assembly on the fake encounters.
The CPI leaders are likely to call on Governor Gurbachan Jagat to demand the dismissal of Mr. Singh’s Ministry.
In the 60-member House, the Congress has 31 members and the CPI 4. Though dissidents had been demanding snapping ties with the CPI, the Chief Minister continued the coalition set-up for his political exigency.