Opposition walks out from Parliament panel meet after demand to discuss Manipur denied

Opposition members of the parliamentary standing committee on Home walked out of a meeting on Thursday after their demand to discuss the situation in Manipur was denied by the panel chief, sources said.

At the meeting to discuss prison reforms in states, TMC's Derek O'Brien, and Congress' Digvijaya Singh and Pradip Bhattacharya submitted letters to panel chairman Brijlal, saying as committee members they cannot ignore the situation in Manipur, the sources said.

Earlier too, O'Brien and Singh had written to Brijlal urging him to hold a meeting to discuss the situation in Manipur.

The chairperson had informed both MPs separately the inability to hold meetings urgently on the Manipur situation, as three meetings on prison reforms have been scheduled for July.

A total of seven members, including the chairman, attended the meeting.

Nearly 120 people have died and more than 3,000 injured in the ethnic violence in Manipur since May 3.