Manipur Assembly session likely to be held from July-end or early August

IMPHAL: The Manipur government, responding to the demands of opposition parties and various civil society organisations, on Thursday decided to convene the state Assembly session this month end or from early August.

Addressing reporters after a cabinet meeting, Manipur Health and Family Welfare Minister Sapam Ranjan Singh said that the business of the proposed Assembly session is yet to be decided.

Political circles said that it is obvious that the ongoing ethnic violence and related issues would be discussed in the session.

Meanwhile on reports of a section of the media that the Manipur government did not take care of BJP MLA Vungzagin Valte, who was brutally assaulted by a mob in Imphal on May 4, Singh said that after his medical treatment in the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences in Imphal for few days, the state government has arranged air ambulance to shift the legislator to Delhi’s Apollo Hospital for better medical care.

Singh, who is also the Manipur government spokesman, said that Valte, who belongs to the Kuki-Zomi tribal community, is in stable condition and discharged from hospital.

The minister while talking with the media denied that the mob gave him electric shocks as reported in a section of the media.

A former Tribal Affairs minister, the three-time tribal MLA is bedridden now, can barely speak, and needs help to do the most basic tasks including bathing, eating, and going to the washroom.

Valte was attacked on May 4, a day after the ethnic violence broke out, when he was on his way to his residence after participating in a meeting called by Chief Minister N. Biren Singh. The MLA’s personal car was stopped by the mob and the 56-years-old tribal leader brutally assaulted.