Coalition partner accuses Koijam of being 'high-handed'

IMPHAL, April 22: In what could be termed as the first rumble of an impending tempest in the present People's Front Ministry led by Radhabinod Koijam, the Bharatiya Janata Party, a major partner in the Ministry, has come out with a scathing criticism of the Chief Minister, RB Koijam of the Samata Party, for his alleged high-handedness in the affairs of governance. The BJP, Manipur Pradesh, has charged the Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam with not taking into confidence the other partners of the People's Front while making plans and policies of the Ministry. The general secretary of the BJP, Manipur Pradesh, N Ibohal, in a statement which was made available to the press, asserted that the people of the State fully understand how the PF Ministry led by Koijam of Samata party is being run. Instead of taking into consideration the suggestions by its major partners and holding consultation on various important policies, the Chief Minister, in the name of PF, is taking decisions at his own sweet will. This has generated a lot of discontentment among the various constituents of the Front, it charged. Accusing the Chief Minister of double-dealing, the BJP State unit leader said that the Chief Minister, Koijam, speaks one thing at New Delhi and another when he is in Imphal. The fact that he remains quite impervious to all the hue and cry in the local papers recently that he should clarify why the Centre refused to allot Rs 200 crore in spite of its earlier promise, only shows that Koijam tried to mislead the public and put the Union Home Minister in a bad light. Regarding the forthcoming Kshetrigao Assembly by-election which is scheduled to be held on May 11 next, the BJP secretary said, as most of the leaders of the Samata Party, Manipur, were inducted newly, they might not know the relation between the BJP and the Samata party, saying that in the last election the BJP and the SP fought a friendly contest at Kshetrigao. But this time, the BJP does not speak in two-pronged tongues on the issue, it added. The BJP leader also warned the Chief Minister, Koijam, that the Chief Minister should not forget that it is a coalition government comprising various political parties. Ibohal also remarked that election is an indispensable part of politics and to a politician, to win or not to win an election is all part of the game. He said that public are aware of how the result of the election of Thangmeiband constituency was declared. The present Chief Minister was elected from Thangmeiband Assembly constituency. There is still a case pending in the court in this connection and it should be well within the knowledge of the general secretary of Samata Party that a case could not be dragged into the law court just for nothing, he added.