With key support, BJP set to rule Manipur
From zero seats in the 2012 Manipur Assembly polls to winning 21 seats this time is no mean achievement for the Bharatiya Janata Party. While the party formed governments in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, it is part of the ruling coalition in Nagaland. And now the latest success has made it a strong contender to form an alliance government in Manipur too.
The BJP has emerged a formidable contender for power by bagging 21 seats in 60-members Manipur Assembly elections. Two allies of BJP — Naga Peoples Front (NPF) and National Peoples Party (NPP) also bagged four seats each. The BJP strategists in Imphal claimed that Trinamool MLA has agreed to extend support to BJP-led alliance, while the Lok Janshakti Party, which also got one seat, is already a partner of National Democratic Alliance.
The ruling Congress party, facing the anti-incumbency of three-terms, emerged the single largest party by winning 28 seats but failed to touch the magic figure of 31 seats.
Manipur PCC president T.N. Haokip, however, said his party would form the next government with the help of "like-minded secular and regional parties."
Both the Lok Sabha MP Conrad Sangma-led NPP and the former Nagaland CM Neiphuo Rio-led NPF are part of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), formed by a clutch of political parties in the northeast in May 2016 with powerful Assam minister and key BJP strategist Himanta Biswa Sarma as the convenor. While the Okram Ibobi Singh-led Congress bagged 28 seats, the Trinamool Congress and an independent candidate won one seat each.
Seemingly, Ashab Uddin, the independent candidate from Jiribam Assembly would have a vital say in the government formation.
Congress, burdened by strong anti-incumbency of three consecutive terms and allegations of corruption and poor law and order, had brightened its prospects considerably with a masterstroke by the politically astute CM Okram Ibobi when on December 9 he raked up an old demand for creation of seven new districts in the state from the original nine, which resulted in widespread Naga protests capped off by a road blockade.
Mr Ibobi led its winners’ list by retaining the prestigious Thoubal seat. Other prominent Congress winning candidates included Md. Abdul Naser and K. Jaikishen Singh.
N. Biren Singh, a key BJP leader and former Manipur Congress spokesperson, also won from Heingang seat. Prominent BJP winning candidates included Sapam R. Singh and Heikham Dingo Singh. The credit for the saffron party’s spate of recent successes in the northeast has been attributed to the welldevised strategies of BJP general secretary Ram Madhav and Himanta Biswa Sarma.