The organisation collaborated at its inception with Manipur's titular king, Leishemba Sanajaoba, but broke off the engagement after he was elected to the Indian Parliament.
[3] In 1949, two years after India's independence, the ruler of the princely state of Manipur, Maharaja Bodhchandra Singh, was persuaded to sign a merger agreement with the Indian Union, which was soon to become a Republic in January 1950.
[5] Despite the grant of full statehood in 1972, a major section of Manipuris still believed that all that Manipur had before its merger ("pre-merger status") should be restored to it.
His successor, Leishemba Sanajaoba, when "crowned" in 1996, had no power or influence or even a steady income stream, even though he continued to use the title "Maharaja" without statutory sanction.
[8][9][10] CIRCA was set up in 2015 as a "coalition", by unnamed "like-minded organisations" which wanted Manipur to return to its pre-merger political status.
[2] In 2020, Leishemba Sanajaoba decided to contest the Manipur's seat in Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of the Indian Parliament.