United Naga Council invited for tripartite talk on January 23 in Imphal Newmai News Network Imphal | January 18 In an effort to reach some kind of settlement with the agitating United Naga Council (UNC), Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh today afternoon left Imphal for New Delhi to meet Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh. The Manipur Chief Minister left the state capital around 1:30 pm after Rajnath Singh asked him to come to the national capital to discuss the blockade issue and try to find a way out of the crisis, official sources said. UNC’s indefinite blockade which started on November 1, 2016 covers the two National Highways linking the landlocked state with the rest of the country and all ongoing national projects in Naga areas. Deputy Chief Minister Gaikhangam also left Imphal for New Delhi in the morning and he is likely to join the state Chief Minister there.Last Sunday, Rajnath reviewed the Manipur situation in a meeting attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Army Chief General Bipin Rawat, Finace Minister Arun Jaitley and other top officials. Meanwhile, the Manipur state government has invited United Naga Council to take part in a tripartite talk on January 23 in Imphal. In a letter to the protesting Naga body, Manipur Chief Secretary Oinam Nabakishore said the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 13 wrote to the Manipur government asking it for initiating a tripartite talk between the State, Centre and UNC. The talk is being arranged at 11 am of January 23 will be held in the Old Secretariat (South Block) conference hall, Imphal. Oinam Nabakishore in the letter claimed that the Manipur government has been relentlessly making efforts to hold tripartite talk involving the State, Centre and UNC over the current issue.
