Staff Reporter

Shillong, July 8: Union Minister of State for Minority Affairs, Animal Husbandry and Veterinary George Kurian avoided a question as to when Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be visiting violence-hit Manipur.

"See in the parliament, Prime Minister has answered the question about this issue, I don't want to say anything more than that," Kurian told reporters while visiting the BJP state party office here.

He said, "I told the answer. I said that the PM explained it in the parliament and I don't want to say anything more than that."

On the other hand, Kurian said that he expected that the BJP's popularity in Meghalaya would also improve like in the other states of the country.

"Till 2017 in Tripura, this was the condition. We are getting less percentage of votes and then we were not a major party but after the elections, we formed the government with a clear majority. That is the condition BJP is growing everywhere in India. Similarly, in 1999 we improved it at 96 seats and the PM was Atal Bihari Vapayee for 30 days and in 1998 he became the Prime Minister, then again he was selected in 2004," he said.

"About Goa, you people used to ask ever can you become the ruling party of Goa because in India Goa is a prominent Christian state but in 2000, we formed the government and more than 50 percent of people's families in BJP are from Christian community," he added.