Political winds stirred up in Imphal with the arrival of Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday. The Supreme Court has fixed September 3 for the final disposal of the disqualification petition against 12 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs. The Opposition Congress circles here are enthused that Manipur’s coalition Ministry will be reduced to a minority and the party can easily form an alternative Ministry.
On March 23, 2017, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren administered the oath of office and secrecy to 12 Parliamentary Secretaries. Most of these former Parliamentary Secretaries are today Ministers; one of them is a Deputy Speaker. One of them, S. Subhaschandra, resigned from the Assembly. The apex court will pass the verdict on 11 MLAs. The petition against them says they should be disqualified as they held offices of profit.
Congress sources said that Mr. Ramesh and Bhakta Charan Das, both party leaders in-charge of Manipur, will be staying in Imphal for some days to closely monitor political developments in the State. Mr. Das arrived in Imphal three days ago.
In the 2017 Assembly polls, the ruling Congress bagged 28 seats in the 60 member House. The BJP got 21 seats. With the support of some splinter parties, Mr. Biren could form the coalition Ministry. Since then, there have been floor crossings, resignations and disqualifications. Congress leader Okram Ibobi has said that if the 12 Parliamentary Secretaries are disqualified, the Congress will “have a clear-cut majority”. “In 2017, too, we had staked our claim, but Governor Najma Heptulla never gave us a chance to prove our majority,” Mr. Ibobi said.
Despite the forthcoming apex court ruling, Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee president Govindas Konthoujam has resigned from the post of president and membership of the Assembly.
Mr. Biren said on Friday that he had no plan to expand the Ministry, even though some berths were vacant. Some time back, he had said that there was no fear of losing majority since some more Congress MLAs would be joining his party. These vacant Ministerial posts may be used profitably, if need be.
