Outer Manipur Congress candidate willful defaulter: Punjab National Bank

Imphal, March 31, 2019:

In a shocking turn of events, the Punjab National Bank has accused the Congress candidate from Outer Manipur of being a willful defaulter and the PNB in a notification stated that the total recoverable due from the defaulter is Rs 116 crore (!).

The name of the person in question is K James and he is running for the Outer Manipur parliamentary constituency. It was being allegedly claimed he evaded repaying loans from the PNB to the tune of 600 to 1000 crores of rupees. Now, the PNB authorities have sent a letter to the Election Commission to bar James from contesting the polls.

It has been reported that James is a defaulter of a loan of Rs 100 crore borrowed by him in the capacity of director and personal guarantor for a firm called M/s Northeast Region Fin Services Limited.

But for now, it's not yet been announced officially by the ECI or the any of the competent government authorities whether he has committed a culpable offense that disqualifies him from running for election. Being a scheduled tribe he is entitled with certain tax benefits and loan repayment relaxation.

Meanwhile, the Congress candidate for the inner parliamentary constituency O Nabakishore has also had some bad blood with the current CM of Manipur. He was demoted from the post of Chief Secretary of Manipur when CM Biren took office.

In general, it is believed that the public at large in Manipur is distrustful and wary of both the current BJP government in the state & the center as a result of the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB).