Congress, CPI fall out in Manipur

Imphal, May 23 : The seven-year-long honeymoon between the Congress and CPI in Manipur is now over -- a direct fallout of the Lok Sabha polls.

In a swift but not entirely unexpected move, chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh today decided to part ways with the CPI, which has been sharing power with the Congress in the Secular Progressive Front (SPF) ministry since 2002.

Ibobi Singh took the decision to drop the CPI during a party meeting held at Manipur Bhavan in Delhi this morning.

Three Congress MPs from Manipur, Rishang Keishing, Thokchom Meinya Singh and Thangso Baite, along with Ibobi Singh’s aides, ministers, Congress MLAs and top leaders of the PCC, including party president Gaikhangam, attended the meeting.

“Yes, the chief minister has agreed to sever ties with the CPI. The decision is now final and henceforth we will go our separate ways,” an aide of Ibobi Singh told The Telegraph over phone from Delhi. Ibobi has also reportedly agreed to “implement” the decision once he returns to Imphal after the formation of the UPA ministry.

The chief minister said the CPI had attempted to “tarnish” the image of the party by complaining to the Election Commission that the Congress had resorted to mass rigging during the recent Lok Sabha elections.

“The other reason is the changed political scenario in the country,” the source added.

Immediately after the polls to the Inner Manipur constituency on April 22, the CPI had demanded that repolling be held in 16 booths in Thoubal, Andro, Khundrakpam and Patsoi Assembly constituencies alleging that the Congress had rigged the polls.

Losing four CPI members will not destabilise the Ibobi Singh government, the source said.

The Congress alone has a simple majority of 31 in a House of 60 members. One Independent and the RJD, with three members, provide outside support to the government.

The CPI, on the other hand, will lose one ministerial post. Pheiroijan Parijat Singh, who represents the CPI in the ministry, has the health and family welfare and labour and employment portfolios.

The relationship between the partners had not been good after the CPI became critical of the Ibobi Singh government’s performance even before the Lok Sabha elections, particularly on the issue of law and order.

When the Left pulled out of the UPA on the issue of the nuclear deal, the two parties decided to stay together in Manipur to maintain stability.

Sources said Congress legislators who are aspiring to become ministers have been mounting pressure on Ibobi Singh to drop the CPI from the coalition so that one of the them could become a minister.

No CPI leader was available for comment.
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