The Rajya Sabha early on Friday adopted a statutory resolution confirming the imposition of President’s rule in strife-hit Manipur.

The resolution was taken up by the Upper House at 2.35am on Friday and approved after 80 minutes of discussion. The Lok Sabha had approved the resolution in the middle of the night on Thursday.

Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge had requested that the discussion on the resolution be taken up during the day but his proposal was rejected.

Trinamool Congress member Derek O’Brien questioned the timing of the discussion much after the prime time debates on news channels.

“We are the council of states. From the first day, you could have brought it. The BJP member had to speak for 15 minutes but he spoke for two minutes. You brought it at 3am when there is no TV time, no prime time,” O’Brien said.

He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had travelled 3.8 lakh km nationally and internationally to attend programmes but has not found time to travel to Manipur. Prolonged ethnic violence has thrown public life out of gear in the state for the last 22 months.

Kharge said more than 260 people had died in the state and accused the Centre and the previous BJP government in the state of failing to handle the law and order situation.

Kharge alleged that the President’s rule was imposed after the BJP MLAs revolted against chief minister N. Biren Singh, who had to resign. A no-confidence motion would have been brought against Singh in the Assembly had he not stepped down, he said.

“When you have a majority in the Assembly, why did you impose President’s rule? The President’s rule was proclaimed to save the BJP, not the people,” Kharge said.

CPI member P. Sandosh Kumar demanded that Union home minister Amit Shah give a time frame by when the violence in Manipur would be fully controlled.

Shah countered the Opposition attack over the death of 260 people in Manipur by citing poll violence in Bengal that, he claimed, killed 250 people. “I admit 260 people have died in Manipur in communal conflict. In Bengal, 250 people have been killed in electoral violence,” he said.

Shah alleged that the Bengal government took no action against the ill-treatment meted out to hundreds of women in Sandeshkhali. Even in the RG Kar rape-and-murder case, nothing happened, he said.

Shah said the President’s rule had to be imposed in Manipur after the chief minister resigned and no alternative government was formed. He said the Congress did not have the strength to move a no-confidence motion against the state government.

He claimed that there was zero violence in the state in the last four months.