Imphal, May 25 : The CPI, a partner in the Congress-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) ministry, today urged Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to convene a meeting of the SPF steering committee “immediately” to decide on the fate of the coalition.
The executive committee, the highest decision-making body of the CPI, took the decision after a four-hour meeting held at Iraba Bhavan, the party’s head office here today. State secretary Langol Iboyaima and health and family welfare minister Pheiroijam Parijat Singh, among others, attended the meeting.
Iboyaima Singh handed over the written request, addressed to the chief minister, to the convenor of the steering committee and CPI leader Moirangthem Nara Singh. Ibobi Singh is the chairman of the committee.
The CPI demand came in the wake of the reported decision by Ibobi Singh to sever ties with the CPI and form a Congress ministry during a meeting held at Manipur Bhavan in Delhi last Friday.
Manipur PCC president Gaikhangam, three Congress MPs from Manipur, Rishang Keishing, Thokchom Meinya Singh and Thangso Baite, along with Ibobi Singh’s aides, ministers and Congress MLAs attended the meeting. Ibobi Singh has been facing pressure from his own party to end ties with the CPI in view of the party’s majority in the House. Sources said Ibobi Singh has agreed.
The move, according to a source, was also prompted by the CPI’s attempt to “tarnish” the image of the party by complaining to the Election Commission that the Congress had resorted to mass rigging and malpractice during the recent Lok Sabha elections in the Manipur Inner constituency.
“The CPI extended support to the Congress seven years ago to help maintain stability, tackle the problem of insurgency, accelerate the pace of development and face the threat to Manipur’s integrity. The coalition completed the full term and following an agreement, the alliance continues in the second. We think it is time to let the people know what the Congress and the CPI want. So we are demanding a meeting of the steering committee,” Iboyaima said.
The CPI leaders, during the meeting, will ask the chief minister his views regarding the future of the coalition.
“We are prepared to ask the chief minister what his next move would be. He should decide whether the alliance is necessary or not. It is the duty of the steering committee to decide the future of the alliance. Neither the Congress nor the CPI can decide the fate of the SPF on its own,” Nara Singh said.
Nara Singh said the CPI would not hesitate to quit the ministry if the Congress wanted to form a ministry on its own. CPI leaders said the chief minister had not convened even a single meeting of the steering committee after the SPF returned to power in March 2007, despite repeated requests from the CPI.