Prime Minister's image is going down on Manipur issue: Kodikunnil Suresh

NEW DELHI: At a time when a debate on the no-confidence motion is going on in Parliament, Congress MP Kodikunnil Suresh on Wednesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s image is going down on the Manipur issue.

“Prime Minister’s image is going down on the Manipur issue. He has never appealed to the people of Manipur. The entire country is against him because of his attitude towards Manipur on which he’s not saying anything,” said MP Kodikunnil Suresh.

The Congress MP also said that it was the right time for them to move a no-confidence motion in the Parliament as Prime Minister was not opening his mouth on the issue.

“For the last 3 months, Manipur is burning and the Prime minister is not opening his mouth. He has never appealed to the people there to restore peace. So, this is the right time for us to bring a no-confidence motion in the parliament,” the Congress MP said.

On the other hand, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey, initiating his party’s debate on the no-confidence motion in the lower house, took a jibe at Sonia Gandhi and also hit out at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"This no-confidence motion has been brought. Why has this been brought up? Sonia ji (Gandhi) is sitting here...I think she has to do two things - "Bete (son) ko set karna hai aur Damad (son-in-law) ko bhent karna hai" (She wants to set his son [Rahul Gandhi] and wants to gift his son-in-law). ...That is the base of this motion," Dubey said.

Manipur had been on the boil for the last three months after ethnic clashes broke out between two tribal communities Meitis and Kukis, when the Manipur High Court asked the state government to consider adding one of the communities to the list of Scheduled Tribes. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing his second no-confidence motion in Parliament today, the first in his second term as the PM.