BJP washes hands off any role

By A Staff Reporter

IMPHAL | July 23

Manipur today woke up to a political ruckus involving MPCC president T. N. Haokip. A street campaign poster of the BJP prominently featured a picture of he Congress president.

When a picture of the poster was uploaded in a social media status update of the senior politician of the Congress, it went viral.

The poster of the veteran Congressman in the BJP poster was displayed along busy Kangla park road right in the heart of Imphal city.

The photo which was uploaded early in the morning from an unknown source caught more attention and went viral by the seconds as it stated that Haokip is likely to join the BJP fold.

The upload on a Whatsapp group said “President of MPCC, MLA TN Haokip has unofficially joined BJP. His joining the party may be officially announced today either before or after the executive committee meeting of the BJP Manipur Pradesh scheduled to be held at 11 am today. BJP’s national leaders like Ram Madhav Prahlad Singh Patel and one more, whose name I cannot remember at this moment, will attend the meeting”.

The poster in question was displayed on the median of the road along with the photos of other key functionaries of the BJP including the chief minister, N Biren Singh.

The photos were displayed in connection with the executive committee meeting of the BJP convened today at the Classic Grande, Chingmeirong.

The poster was put on display since early morning today as a preparation for the executive committee meeting.

When IFP contacted BJP, the party denied any hand in the arrangement and informed that the poster was a mistake committed by one Sharma Enterprise, Wangkhei.

The clarification said the enterprise was reportedly engaged in the printing of hoardings and posters of the party, and that the party had nothing to do with the bizarre poster blunder.

The controversial poster was later removed and replaced with the poster of the Speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly, Y. Khemchand.

When the mistake caught the attention of Sharma Enterprises, the firm uploaded a clarification through social networking sites apologizing for the mistake and that it (the enterprise) will bear all the responsibility.

Further in response to the development, the BJP issued a statement informing that the contract between Sharma Enterprises and the BJP has been cancelled.

The statement issued by K. Saratkumar Singh, general secretary (Administration) BJP, Manipur Pradesh, said, “For reasons of false printing and erection of hoarding, your contract with the BJP Manipur Pradesh stands cancelled. “Any resultant consequences regarding the matter shall be solely borne by your firm and the BJP Manipur Pradesh will not be responsible for it.”

Sharma Enterprises in a press released tender its apology to both BJP and Congress for committing the photo mistake.

The release signed by B. Peter Sharma said the enterprises will shoulder all the consequences of the mistake.

However, the Congress party Manipur alleged the political development as a “dirty political conspiracy” against the party (Congress) device by the BJP.