As the run-up to the State Assembly polls in Manipur (January 28) begins, new alignments of political parties are emerging. For one thing, the Congress has broken with the CPI. In the last elections the two had fought together in the name of Secular Progressive Front (SPF). The SPF had been ruling the State for the last ten years.
This time, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh says there are ‘ideological differences’ with the CPI and the Congress will fight the polls alone. In the 60-member House, the Congress had 30 members and the CPI four. Why has the Congress decided to jettison the CPI? Observers say this time the Congress is so confident of winning a majority on its own – 40 to 45 seats – that it is no longer willing to take the CPI on board. The Congress is contesting all the sixty seats. Now the CPI will have to fend for itself.
The main challenge to the Congress comes from the five-party Opposition People’s Democratic Front (PDF) led by the Manipur People’s Party (MPP). The others are the NCP, the Janata Dal (Secular), CPI-M and RJD. The BJP, which failed to open an account in the outgoing Assembly, is contesting twelve seats in all. It has reportedly reached a separate ‘understanding’ with the MPP. The exact nature of this understanding is not known, nor how many seats it covers. PDF will highlight Manipur’s boundary question, corruption, drug abuse and the ‘identity’ problem of Manipuris.
Another player this time around is the Naga People’s Front (NPF) which is being supported by the United Naga People’s Council. The NPF is known to be a front organization of the NSCN-IM group. Indications are that in future it will set up candidates in Naga pockets of other neighbouring States as well. This is seen as a part of a bigger plan for securing a greater ‘Nagalim’ which will integrate all Naga-inhabited areas of Manipur, Arunachal and Assam into one Naga State. During their visit to Imphal last month, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi assured the people that the Centre was fully committed to maintaining the territorial integrity of Manipur. The NPF will set up twelve candidates.
The TMC, on its part, is entering the electoral fray in Manipur in a big way. In the current Assembly it had a lone member, K. Sarat Singh. It has announced the names eighteen candidates and may field some more. Recently, it had a prize catch. Former Deputy Speaker Th. Shyamkumar has resigned from the MPP and is contesting as a TMC candidate. Another MPP legislator, RK Anand, has also joined the TMC.