Dissolve Assembly : Interesting stand Ready to be more than a junior partner
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Dissolve the Assembly and go in for fresh elections. This was Wangoi AC MLA Khurai-jam Loken of the NPP and look a little further and it could well reflect how Conrad Sangma’s party has read the situation. This is a sort of an open announcement that the NPP is well placed to do better than the show it put up at the 2022 Assembly elections when it won 7 seats and while to the people this could be a case of speculation, surely the MLA from Wangoi Assembly Constituency could be speaking after getting some feedbacks from the ground. Whatever the case, a sitting MLA, that too from someone of the ruling front led by the BJP, calling for the dissolution of the State Assembly is significant. Citing President’s Rule as a big failure to take up any developmental works may sound politically correct, but it is there for all to see and acknowledge that direct confrontations, killings and attacks have drastically gone down after Delhi stepped in and imposed PR on February 13 this year. Put the present situation, after PR came, against the time when a popular Government was in place here and the reality should tell its own story. Whatever the case maybe, it stands that the Wangoi AC MLA would not have opened his mouth and called for something as ‘extreme’ as dissolving the Assembly and a fresh election, if he had not been led to believe that the NPP is well poised to do well if Manipur goes to polls anytime now. The optimism radiated by Kh Loken can also be understood in the backdrop of the fact that the BJP does not seem to be inspiring confidence in the people. Plus the ongoing verbal duel, recently spiked and made more colourful in the last 3/4 days with ex-Chief Minister N Biren and Lok Sabha MP of the Congress Bimol Akoijam as the main players, has only gone to raise more questions in the minds of the people. How things ultimately unfold is too early to say, but each verbal bullet fired against other, reveals the warts on either side and in such a situation, the NPP stands to gain. So far, NPP National president Conrad Sangma has demonstrated that he is on the same page with the people of Manipur during his visit to the State from October 9 to 11. The demonstration of understanding plus the willingness to reach out, did go down well with the people and it is against this backdrop that the Wangoi AC MLA raised the call for the dissolution of the Assembly to be followed by an election. NPP is ready for an election, anytime is the message conveyed by the MLA and this is saying something a lot. It is also interesting to note that the call of the NPP MLA came at a time when the verbal duel between the Congress and the BJP reached new heights, with some stating that some punches were delivered below the belt. Manipur knows who started the verbal duel and which side is more or less credible but it is best left to the people to have the final say. Or it could all be part of what one calls politics.
Year 2027 is still more than a year away but that has not stopped the people from talking about the prospects of the different political parties. The focus is obviously on the Big Two-BJP and the Congress, but the chances of a fractured poll cannot be written off that easily and this is where the role of the other parties, particularly the NPP and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) will become crucial. It will also not be wise to write off the JD(U), for remember Bihar is going to polls next month and a good show there will obviously have a ripple effect on the Manipur unit of the party. Still a little more than a year away, but judging from the way in which the BJP and the Congress have been going at it against each other, comes close to the understanding of a curtain raiser to the 2027 Assembly polls. Making it all that more interesting is also the fact that a sitting MLA has also called for the dissolution of the Assembly, followed by election. In a nutshell, all indications that the major players are more than ready to test the water now, given the fact that no party is well placed to be dubbed the favourites. The reality since the evening of May 3, 2023 has not been pleasant for the BJP by any stretch of the imagination and the Congress is obviously more than ready to pounce on any given opportunity. The NPP too has made it more than apparent that it is ready to be something more than being a junior partner in any coalition Government that may come up after the 2027 Assembly elections. The NPF and the KPA are the only two parties which have so far not made much of a noise. Will the KPA go for a post poll tie with the BJP is the question that some have raised.
Year 2027 is still more than a year away but that has not stopped the people from talking about the prospects of the different political parties. The focus is obviously on the Big Two-BJP and the Congress, but the chances of a fractured poll cannot be written off that easily and this is where the role of the other parties, particularly the NPP and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) will become crucial. It will also not be wise to write off the JD(U), for remember Bihar is going to polls next month and a good show there will obviously have a ripple effect on the Manipur unit of the party. Still a little more than a year away, but judging from the way in which the BJP and the Congress have been going at it against each other, comes close to the understanding of a curtain raiser to the 2027 Assembly polls. Making it all that more interesting is also the fact that a sitting MLA has also called for the dissolution of the Assembly, followed by election. In a nutshell, all indications that the major players are more than ready to test the water now, given the fact that no party is well placed to be dubbed the favourites. The reality since the evening of May 3, 2023 has not been pleasant for the BJP by any stretch of the imagination and the Congress is obviously more than ready to pounce on any given opportunity. The NPP too has made it more than apparent that it is ready to be something more than being a junior partner in any coalition Government that may come up after the 2027 Assembly elections. The NPF and the KPA are the only two parties which have so far not made much of a noise. Will the KPA go for a post poll tie with the BJP is the question that some have raised.