Government neglecting northeast: BJP

IMPHAL - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Friday blamed the central government of being insensitive to the problems of the people of the northeast and said it would highlight their plight in the coming session of parliament.

“The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government is incompetent and non-functional towards the crisis and problems of the northeastern states,” senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj told reporters in Manipur capital Imphal.

Referring to the long blockade faced by Manipur, she said: “For over two months, the state has been facing acute shortage of essential commodities, and petrol is being sold in the black market at Rs.120 per litre while cooking gas is sold at around Rs.1,500 per cylinder.”

A BJP parliamentary team, led by Swaraj, arrived here Thursday for an on-the-spot study of the ground situation of Manipur.

The team comprises BJP MPs S.S. Ahluwalia, Chandan Mitra and party leaders Tapi Gao and Chandra Sekhar Rao, besides Swaraj. They held meetings with officials, ministers, common people, representatives of NGOs and other party leaders Thursday and Friday to be acquainted with the prevailing situation in Manipur.

Swaraj said: “In both the houses of parliament, the BJP would take up the issue in different forms and force the government to take steps to resolve the crisis of northeastern states, especially Manipur.”

“Had such a situation prevailed in any other part of the country, Congress leaders and union ministers would have made several trips in those states,” she said, adding that the prime minister and the union home minister were “badly neglecting” Manipur and other northeastern states and they hardly bothered to visit the region.