Oppn team, including 20 MPs, begins visit to Manipur today

A delegation of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), including 20 MPs, will begin a two-day visit to Manipur on Saturday to assess the ground situation and make recommendations to the government and Parliament, as part of efforts to help resolve the ethnic conflict that has roiled the northeastern state since May 3.

- Saptarshi Das

The delegation, from at least 20 political parties, will visit both the valley and hill areas, and also call on Manipur governor Anusuiya Uikey on Sunday. Opposition leaders said that some parties, which don't have MPs, will send other representatives.

The details of the non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance's first visit to the state were shared by Congress MP and whip in Rajya Sabha Naseer Hussain during a press conference at the AICC headquarters in Delhi. "We have got permission from the state government to visit the affected areas as also the relief camps. We have also got permission to meet the governor, who has allowed time to the delegation on Sunday," Hussain said. "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) have neither the will nor the ability to resolve the Manipur violence," he added.