Imphal, December 31: The office of the State unit of the BJP, located at Nityaipat Chuthel is in the middle of yet another round of ownership row, with 14/15 suspected members of the newly floated Manipur Peoples' Democratic Party (MPDP) pulling down the flags of the BJP hoisted inside the office complex today evening at about 5.30. According to reports received here, the suspected MPDP members arrived at the office of the BJP and called out the chowkidar from his quarters.

The chowkidar is identified as one Manglem.

The intruders forced the chowkidar to part with the keys of the rooms of the office and after unlocking them replaced them with a fresh stock of lock.

After this all the flags of the BJP which were hoisted inside the office complex were pulled down.

The sign board put up at the gate was also pulled down.

The intruders also put up a festoon emblazoned with the word MPDP and left after locking the main gate with another fresh lock.

On receiving reports of the incident, police rushed to the office and broke open the lock of the main gate as well as the locks of the office rooms.

Speaking to The Sangai Express, the treasurer of MPDP and former Minister Amujao said that the plot of land where the BJP stands is not in its name.

It would be right for the BJP to immediately shift its office, declared.

Amujao further said that an application was submitted to the Settlement office on December 14 to claim that office plot jointly stands the names of himself and MPDP leader Y Mangi.

Harking back to the past, Amujao said that the plot of land was taken by the MSCP during the time of W Nipamacha after it broke away from the Congress in 1997. �As a representative of the MSCP and in my capacity as the vice president of the party, I along with the then general secretary Y Mangi appended our signatures on the deed of release on the office plot,� asserted Amujao.

�The deed of release clearly mentions that I and Mangi can together take the office plot along with us to any political party we affiliate with,� he further claimed.

Therefore the office plot should today belong to the MPDP, asserted Amujao.

The Government should act and decide to whom the office plot should go to, he added.

After the MSCP controversially merged with the BJP on November 24, 2002, the office plot was mired in controversy for a long time.

On December 10, a number of former members of the MSCP then walked out from the BJP and formed the MPDP under the leadership of Amujao and Mangi and the claim over the office plot started.

According to reports received here, MPDP is likely to merge with the MSCP which has RV Mingthing as the acting president, M Manihar as the working president.

Reacting to the incident, general secretary of the State BJP Prof Tiken said the act of pulling down the BJP flags was uncalled for.

He asserted that the land does not stand in the name of Amujao or Mangi and urged the police to ensure that such ugly incident is not repeated.

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