IMPHAL, February 11: Notwithstanding the desertion by eight MLAs of the Ruling Manipur State Congress Party, MSCP to the Opposition camp yesterday, Chief Minister and party president Wahengbam Nipamacha stoutly denied today that there has been any split in the party. It may be recalled that eight MLAs left the CM's camp and walked into the Opposition camp at the Speaker's bungalow yesterday. Another legislator, K Tomba, MoS IFCD, had also left the CM's camp but he did not join the Opposition ranks, and has since returned to the CM's fold, according to a reliable source. Addressing mediapersons...

IMPHAL, February 11: The MSCP working president, and Union minister of State for Food Processing, T Chaoba Singh, taking a hand openly for the first time in the political imbroglio in the state, announced today that Chief Minister W Nipamacha and his deputy, L Chandrmani and six other have been expelled from the primary membership of the Ruling Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) for six years by the party central executive committee (CEC). The announcement at a press meet today came in the wake of eight MSCP MLAs deserting Nipamacha and joining the Opposition camp yesterday. Thounaojam Chaoba...

IMPHAL, February 11: Union minister T Chaoba Singh and eight MSCP MLAs today joined the Opposition camp in a major twist to the three-month-long political crisis dogging Manipur since mid-November. The move has effectively reduced the 11-month-old Nipamacha Singh-led MSCP-FPM coalition ministry into a minority one with only 27 members out of the 59-member Manipur Assembly. The death of Samata Party MLA W Basanta had recently reduced the 60-member Assembly to 59. Chaoba Singh, working president of the ruling MSCP also expelled MSCP president, W Nipamacha along with six other ministers...

IMPHAL, February 11: The 11-month-old United Front of Manipur (UFM) government led by Nipamacha Singh was reduced to a minority today after eight Manipur State Congress party (MSCP) legislators defected to the Opposition camp. The UFM now has only 27 legislators in the 60-member Manipur House. In a series of dramatic events today, the MSCP's central executive meeting chaired by working president Thounaoujam Chaoba Singh expelled Chief Minister Nipamacha Singh, deputy Chief Minister L. Chandramani Singh and five other Cabinet ministers for six years from the primary membership of the party for...

DIBRUGARH, February 11: Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta today called upon the state's apex literary body, the Asam Sahitya Sabha to take on the role of a coordinating body among the ethnic literary organisations of the Northeast, saying this would go a long way in achieving the Sabha's theme of unity in diversity. He said such a coordination move would not create any conflict, rather it would help in better understanding of each other's strengths and weaknesses, and also help in arriving at lasting solutions. "Two persons may speak different languages, but feeling are the same, and this...