IT News
Imphal, June 11,
Press clarification made by PRO of the Manipur Legislative Assembly in connection with the Imphal Times news report published on June 9, 2019 issue under the caption “Caught in Camera: Bihar MLAs enjoy sexy dance with local girls in Indo-Myanmar border town”terming it as misleading and attempt to tarnish the image of the visiting VIPs as well as Manipur Legislative Assembly is unfortunate as the Imphal Times was only delivering its duty.In the statement by the PRO it is stated that “……. The persons shown as MLAs of Bihar Assembly are neither MLAs nor officials of Bihar Legislative Assembly who visited the state from 31stMay to 3rd June 2019 on official tour”. This statement is confusing the general public as this newspaper have evidences of all the people shown on video posing for an official photo session at the Manipur Legislative Assembly house.Above all the Bihar Legislative Assembly also confirmed that the official team of the Committee on Internal Resource and Central Assistance did visit the Manipur Legislative Assembly. The Speaker of Bihar Legislative Assembly,Vijay Kumar Chaudhary had also issued a show cause notice to all the members of the committee who are involved in the incident.Interestingly, instead of conducting a probe over the reported news, the Secretary of the Manipur Legislative Assembly in a letter sent to Editor, Imphal Times, also coined the word “misleading news” without conducting any short of enquiry and order to explain Imphal Times position regarding the news item within “24 hours”. Which law of the country permits a Secretary of the State Assembly to summon an editor of a newspaper which is registered under the Registrar for Newspaper of India, is a matter which this newspaper fails to understand. Had it been from the Speaker or from the privilege Committee, then this newspaper would honour .As for the Imphal Times, the report was published on Sunday ,9th June,2019 after maintaining high professional standards and verification of correctness. It is free from misleading ,distortion and confusion.Now, if the Manipur State Assembly said that those in the video are neither MLAs nor officials of Bihar Legislative Assembly then the PRO should clarify the people about the identities of the Committee members entering the State Assembly House and pose for official photo session. If in case the people in the photo are not the members of the committee or not related with the study tour then the PRO should clarify under which rules of the State Assembly , does persons not related are allowed to enter the temple of democracy.
When the PRO of the Manipur Legislative Assembly has been trying hard to protect the people in the video JD(U) MLA Rajkumar Rai, one among the member has suspended his PA after getting the news report.In a message sent to Republic TV by MLA Rajkumar Rai reads, “As soon I got to know that my PA was involved in the activity I have given in written to suspend him with immediate effect”. From the action of the Bihar Legislative Assembly it is now clear that those are the team of the Bihar MLAs shown in the picture. The Imphal Times also stands with the report of MLAs being present when the dancing took place.On that day, that is June 2,2019, some of the committee members visited that Hotel and some civil dress local persons (security) also accompanied them.Following the news report of official visitors dancing in hotel room in Myanmar Border town, Myanmar Police had given verbal instruction to all the hotel runners to prohibit customers or tourist from taking video inside the hotel room.In the news report published by Imphal Times under the heading Caught in Camera:Bihar MLAs enjoy sexy dance with local girls in Indo-Myanmar border town” Imphal Times intention is to open the eyes of the state government regarding things that are happening. It also aims to highlights on how the elected representatives and their staffs are spending publi cmoney in the name of study tour. It is natural that the committee members guided by State Assembly staff and record shows that 2 staffs of the Manipur Legislative Assembly accompanied them.
