Rahul Gandhi to visit Manipur on July 8, first time as leader of opposition

NEW DELHI: Lok Sabha leader of opposition Rahul Gandhi will visit Manipur on Monday (July 8) and meet the violence-affected people in different districts of the northeastern state.
This will be Rahul Gandhi's third visit to the strife-torn state and first as the leader of the opposition.
State Congress president K Meghachandra said Gandhi would travel from Delhi to Silchar on a flight, and from there would head to Jiribam district where fresh violence happened on June 6.
"Gandhi will visit some relief camps in the district. He will then return to the Silchar airport, and from there, take a flight to Imphal," Meghachandra told news agency PTI.
"After landing in Imphal, he will head to Churachandpur district where he will interact with people living in relief camps," he said.
From Churachandpur, Gandhi will get to Moirang in Bishnupur district by road and visit some relief camps. He will then return to Imphal where a meeting with Governor Anusuiya Uikey is being planned.
"He will then leave the state," Meghachandra said.
Congress legislature party leader O Ibobi Singh said, "Gandhi visited the state twice since the outbreak of the violence on May 3 last year. He has visited relief camps to learn about the pains and sorrow of the people."
The visit of the Congress leader comes just days after the opposition disrupted Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reply to the Motion of Thanks on the President's address in the Lok Sabha on July 2. The opposition leaders, led by Gandhi, continued to chant 'give justice to Manipur' throughout PM Modi's two-hour speech. Gandhi himself in his maiden speech as the leader of opposition, accused the NDA government of pushing Manipur to "civil war".
"For the prime minister, there is no state of Manipur. We urged the prime minister to give a message, to go there. But no. You cannot get a reply (from the prime minister)," he said.
Last Rahul Gandhi was in Manipur when he began his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra' from the state ahead of the Lok Sabha polls on January 14.