Six Congress MLAs From Manipur Resign From Assembly, Party Days After Defying Whip

In a rude awakening for the Sonia Gandhi-led Congress party, six of its sitting MLAs in the Manipur State Assembly have tendered their resignation and quit the party, reports Times of India.

The six MLAs included Okram henry Singh, nephew of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader and former chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh. Other MLAs included Oinam Lukhoi, Md Abdul Nasir, Paonam Brojen, Ngamthang Haokip and Ginsuanhau.

All the six MLAs were among the eight Congress MLAs who had on Monday (10 August) defied the whip issued by the party to vote against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led N Biren Singh Government in a trust vote which the incumbent Government easily sailed through.

The six had handed over their resignation to the Speaker of the Assembly Yumnam Khemchand Singh, who has since accepted the resignations of five of them. The resignation of the sixth MLA Brojen remains pending as of now given a disqualification case against him is already pending in the Speaker's Tribunal. The case will now be taken up on 14 August.