Imphal, Sep 25 Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is likely to visit Manipur in October to conduct bhoomi puja before reconstructing a temple destroyed in ethnic violence in the state where his faction of the Shiv Sena will contest the assembly polls due next year, party leaders said on Friday.
The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Manipur unit president M Tombi Singh said the Maharashtra leader agreed to conduct the bhoomi puja at Koubru Leikha Temple following a request from them.
The century-old Shiva temple is located in Koubru Leikha village in Kangpokpi district.
“Our national president Eknath Shinde is likely to visit Manipur in the second week of October,” Singh told reporters here.
He also demanded that the state and central governments take up measures to restore peace and normalcy in the state, and implement the NRC before conducting the census.
The party’s in-charge of North East, Parminder Singh, said, “We are contesting the elections. There is no doubt about it. Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) will be contesting 25 to 30 seats in upcoming Manipur elections.”
The ethnic conflict that erupted in May 2023 between the valley-based Meitei and the hill-based Kuki communities has claimed at least 306 lives, with 49 individuals remaining missing and thousands left homeless.
“We should have free and fair elections in the upcoming polls. I have requested the PM and the Union home minister that we should have a peaceful atmosphere first,” he said.
(PTI News)
