Former Manipur CM blames Advani for toppling govt

Shillong, May 6 (UNI) Former Manipur chief minister and Opposition leader Radhabinod Koijam has blamed former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani for toppling his Samata-led People's Front government in 2001.

''Mr Advani had toppled my three-month old government, opposing my initiatives for declaring a unilateral ceasefire with all militant groups in Manipur,'' Mr Koijam told UNI here today.

''I declared the unilateral ceasefire in March 2001 as a starting point to bring peace in my state. But Mr Advani objected to it because he wanted to take the credit to declare ceasefire with the militants of Northeast,'' the Chief Minister revealed.

Mr Koijam said that he failed to understand Mr Advani because of his double standards towards maintaining peace in the state, ''I really don't understand his mind at that point of time, he offered talks with the militants and when someone takes the peace initiatives, he was against it,'' the veteran Meitei political leader stated.

Reiterating that the insurgency problem in the region should be considered as a national problem rather than a law and order problem, Mr Koijam said insurgency cannot be tackled by the concerned states alone since it is affecting the national security.

''They (Union government) have introduced many draconian laws to tackle militancy in Nagaland, Manipur and Asom, but the army has failed to tackle it and therefore the only strategy to deal with them is through a dialogue and declaring the insurgency problem as a national problem,'' he added.

UNI