Cong, BJP only interested in personal gains: CPI

The Communist Party of India (CPI) Thursday claimed that the Congress and the BJP cannot bring about "positive changes" in the state as the leaders of the two parties were only interested in "personal gains".

People have elected representatives of the two national parties time and again, but the state has not witnessed any development, CPI general secretary L Sotinkumar told reporters.

"The Congress and the BJP leaders are more or less members of one and the same family. They are only interested in personal gains. They cannot bring about development in the state," he said.

Stressing that his party aims to preserve the territorial integrity of the state, Sotinkumar said it was necessary to "stand up" against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill and mitigate problems along the international border.

Manipur shares 398-km-long border with Myanmar.

The CPI is fielding candidate from one of the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur.

M Nara of the party is pitted against R K Ranjan of the BJP and O Nabakishore of the Congress in Inner Manipur Lok Sabha seat.

Polling for the Outer Manipur and Inner Manipur seats has been scheduled for April 11 and 19 respectively.