New Delhi: Amid a political crisis in strife-torn Manipur, senior BJP leader Sambit Patra on Wednesday morning called on Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan in State Capital Imphal.
They held discussions for some time but the outcome of the meeting was not immediately known.
Patra, the BJP’s Northeast in-charge, later met party MLAs during the day in a hotel.
A BJP delegation led by Patra had on Tuesday met Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan amid a leadership crisis following the resignation of N Biren Singh as the chief minister of the ethnic violence-hit state on February 9.
Meanwhile, experts have warned that with no one staking claim to form the government so far, the BJP-ruled Manipur may head towards a constitutional crisis.
If the situation remains so, the state is likely to be under President’s rule, they said.
Legal experts said that in Manipur, the assembly is a live one and is not under suspended animation or President’s Rule. It is mandatory to hold assembly sessions as per the Supreme Court order. Obviously, it will lead to a big constitutional crisis, they said.
There is no provision in Article 174 saying that this can be extended or be condoned beyond six months, they added.
Article 174 says that the Governor shall from time to time summon the House or each House of the Legislature of a state to meet at such time and place as he thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.
After six months, it will lead to a constitutional deadlock and the President’s Rule under Article 356 is the only option, Chowdhury said.
Article 356 of the Constitution gives the President the power to impose this rule on a state on the advice of the Union Council of Ministers.
