Ibobi faces revolt, rebels in Delhi to meet Sonia

The long-simmering divide in the Manipur Congress Legislative Party is out in the open, with both Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh...

The long-simmering divide in the Manipur Congress Legislative Party is out in the open, with both Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and the dissident Congress MLAs pitching camp in New Delhi for an audience with the party high command, especially Congress President Sonia Gandhi. While the dissidents are claiming that they have the “blessings” of the Congress top brass, the CM’s loyalists haven’t called it a day as yet.

Rumours are rife that T Meinya, the MP from Inner Manipur, is the frontrunner for the CM’s chair. But sources in the dissident camp told The Indian Express from the national capital that their nominee would be Revenue Minister Th Debendra.

IFCD Minister N Biren said, “Currently the party high command is busy with the nuclear deal debate and other issues, so we’ve been asked to wait. We are expecting to be granted an appointment with top Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi, in two to three days.”

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The Congress party, speaheading the Secular Progressive Front coalition which includes the CPI, had unexpectedly surged back to power in the Assembly elections held in February this year. In fact, among the three states that went to the polls that month—Manipur, Chattisgarh and Punjab—the Congress was able to hold sway only in Manipur, where the SPF coalition bettered its score by 11, cornering 31 seats, compared to 20 in the 2002 elections.

However, the ceiling on the number of ministers has meant that most ruling party MLAs would be left out of ministerial consideration, widely believed to be the reason for the dissension. Dissident MLA Bijoy Koijam said they had 13 MLAs with them. “We’re expecting two more to join. The Ibobi Singh Government has failed to maintain law and order, and the same has deteriorated since 2002. There is no transparency in this Government. Central Funds are concentrated to the constituencies of a select few.”