Imphal, Feb. 13: Thounaojam Chaoba Singh, president of the BJP?s Manipur unit, has appealed to a militant outfit to reconsider its decision to award him capital punishment and asked for forgiveness if it was offended by his actions. Last month, the banned Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) had asked the state BJP leaders to expel Chaoba Singh from the party, saying the outfit had passed capital punishment on him.
The deadline set by the outfit for Chaoba Singh?s expulsion is February 15. The outfit also threatened to target BJP leaders if Chaoba Singh was not expelled from the party before the deadline.
In his first reaction to the rebel threat, Chaoba Singh, who is also an MP, said in his 32-year political career, he neither had links with any underground group nor did he ask any other outfit to bail him out of the current crisis. He asked the insurgents ?to excuse any incident that had taken place before the 1999 Lok Sabha elections which might have caused harm or hurt the sentiments of the KYKL?.
He also appealed to the outfit not to target other BJP leaders as they were innocent and had no power to remove him from the post of party president. ?I humbly appeal (to the KYKL) not to target the helpless and defenceless BJP workers and office bearers, including me, and also pardon them as they are totally innocent of any crime and solely dedicated to the BJP.?
The Okram Ibobi Singh government has taken the threat from the rebel group ?very seriously?. Director-general of police A.K. Parasar today said security at the official residence of Chaoba Singh has been strengthened.
The CRPF has been deployed at the quarters in addition to the existing Manipur Rifles guards, he said. The police chief said more security guards have been assigned to all the four BJP legislators in view of the threat. Security at the party?s headquarters in Imphal has also been beefed up after the outfit asked the party to close all the party offices and stop party activities.
BJP leaders in Manipur and some local organisations in Choaba Singh?s home constituency Nambol appealed to the outfit to pardon the Lok Sabha MP. However, the KYKL is yet to react to the appeals.
The party?s Imphal West district unit has decided not to take part in activities of the BJP if the party president, office-bearers and national leaders failed to resolve the problem amicably before the deadline.