Manipur government has declined permission for Imphal venue of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra: Congress

Imphal (Manipur) [India], January 10 (ANI): Manipur Congress chief Keisham Meghachandra has said that Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh has declined permission for the venue in Imphal decided for start of Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra and that the state party unit is looking for alternative option.

Congress leader KC Venugopal also said that they got information that the Manipur government has declined the party’s request for start of yatra from in Palace Ground in Imphal and they will start Yatra in Manipur from another location

“Today, a team of Manipur Congress members met the CM. He has declined to give permission for the venue. We also submitted our request to our deputy commissioner of Imphal on January 2. He (Manipur CM) declined the request…that he would not give any public lane in Manipur. It is very unfortunate. The use of the lane is our right. The lanes do not belong to the Chief Minister,” Meghachandra told ANI.

“Even if the government declines (the permission), we have decided to do this near the Khongjom War Memorial complex, Thoubal, in a private lane. We are discussing this with the AICC team and the senior leaders of the party,” he added.

Earlier in the day, party leaders Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal released the road map and a pamphlet of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the national capital.

“We got information that the Government of Manipur declined (our request) to hold the yatra in Palace Ground, Imphal…When we are starting a yatra from East to West, how can we avoid Manipur? Then what message are we giving to the people of the country? We need to start the yatra from Manipur only. We are now going to start Yatra in Manipur from another location. Details will be announced later,” Venugopal said answering queries.

The Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra is scheduled to start from Manipur on January 14 and cover a distance of 6,713 kilometres, straddling 100 Lok Sabha constituencies and 337 assembly segments and covering 110 districts.

The march will culminate in Mumbai on March 20 or 21. The slogan of the Yatra is “Nyay ka haq milne tak”.