IT Desk
Manipur perhaps is likely to become the first ‘Congress Mukh’ state in the entire country. BJP’s main agenda is ‘Congress Mukh Bharat’ and with the twisting turns in the political theatre, the BJP’s agenda of eliminating the Congress party from the soil of the country is likely to see in the upcoming 2022 state assembly election. But it is not sure whether BJP will hold its supremacy even though it succeeds in wiping out the Congress party before, have to be waited and watch. And one thing is that even though congress’s presence is not felt in the state of Manipur same face who are in the Congress will replace by another political party. Say it as “old wine in a new bottle”, or called it a political vendetta, most of the prominent Congress legislatures have finally left the party even though it has not been officially declared by the MPCC.
The BJP’s victory over Congress comes after the state President of the MPCC, Govindas Konthoujam had submitted a resignation letter to the AICC. The news about his resignation blasted in media yesterday. Some even reported that 8 other Congress MLA have also resigned and all are likely to join the BJP. However, there are also assumptions that except for Govindas Konthoujam, who grooms his career as RSS karyakarta but later shifted as Congress candidate and winning for 6 terms consecutively all other Congress MLA who are reported to have quit the Congress party may form a political party that will play a key role in the formation of the next government probably by supporting the BJP leader whom the center chose.
Since N. Biren Singh had taken office as Chief Minister, after being re-elected as BJP candidate in the last assembly election, his position remains shaky. He took oath as Chief Minister on March 15, 2017. In 2018 cold war against those BJP MLAs who were against him appeared in the public domain. The matter turns serious and ugly, but finally N. Biren Singh, tactfully handle the situation and with the political maturity of the BJP Central leadership the matter was settled. Later again Biren’s position was strengthened after the by-election held in November 2020. The BJP won 5 out of six assembly constituencies where the by-election was held and the one from Lilong where BJP didn’t contest also later supported the N. Biren Singh government. The reshuffling of his cabinet Ministers in September 2020 by dropping 6 Ministers and inducting 5 new ministers strengthened his government. Later again the appointment of the late Prof. Tiken Singh had even strengthened his position in the BJP. However, the state BJP President’s untimely demise had brought some setbacks to the fate of N. Biren Singh. It is not because that the centre appoints A. Sharda Devi as the new president in June this year, but his proximity with the departed president Prof. S. Tiken.
What many political analysts are speculating is that N. Biren Singh will use every possible wisdom to make sure that he keeps on continuing as the Chief Minister in the next term also. The matter keenly watched by each and everyone is that whether the BJP will announce his name as the Chief Ministerial candidate next term or will he be replaced like the Assam model. And many said that as of now N. Biren Singh is the most capable candidate to lead the BJP legislatures but, the recent public speech given by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari while inaugurating the Makru Bridge makes some of the political analysts skeptical of announcing any name as Chief Ministerial candidate in the next assembly election.
But for sure the new development in the political theatre of Manipur will definitely make some changes by leaving the political field for more players to play the game of throne. We will have to wait for just a few days and see the reality. The real picture of who is the real player will be in the public domain in the coming days.