IMPHAL, Oct 20 ? Manipur Chief Minister and Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh, known to have an uncanny instinct for smelling political trouble in advance, has anointed soothing balm to the hurt feelings of the dissident Naga MLAs.
Ibobi, to blunt the voice of dissent raised against him, has made political chicanery with the promise that tainted and non-performing Ministers under his ministry will be dropped by the end of this year after assessing their performances and investigating a scam which was raised by the Opposition People?s Democratic Alliance in the state. The Chief Minister is reported to have said that some selected MLAs from the minority communities either the Naga or the Kuki or the Muslim will be inducted in their places, said the sources.
The Chief Minister, who is also president of the Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee, is understood to have started looking out for a man who can replace him as the president of the MPCC-I according to the party?s principle of one man, one post.
The internal rumblings within the ruling Secular Progress Front government have come out when the dissident Naga MLAs have openly come out against the Chief Minister over the allegation of rampant corruption in the Works Department subsequent to the fraudulent withdrawal of development funds amounting to Rs 8 millions. The huge amount of central funds for development of roads in the Naga inhabited areas in the state was withdrawn without any work execution.
Interestingly, the scam involved yet another Naga political leader Gaikhangam who is at present power minister in the Ibobi Ministry. Gaikhangam is the trusted lieutenant of the Chief Minister. The fraudulent withdrawal of road development funds happened while Gaikhangbam was the works minister.
Though he denied his hands in the scam, the matter is now under investigation by the state vigilante department following intervention from the state Governor SS Sidhu subsequent to the demand for thorough investigation by the Opposition Democratic People?s Alliance, Manipur.
The former Chief Minister and Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing, who is a Naga leader also, expressed unhappiness over the allegation supporting the dissident Naga MLAs to this effect, sources said. The dissidents Naga MLAs and Rishang Keishing who is a nominee in the Rajya Sabha on Congress ticket are trying to oust Ibobi Singh from the Chief Ministership and to make a new leader at the earliest.
The dissident MLAs have also galvanized themselves to take a united stand on the matter and highlighted their case to Ahmed Patel, advisor to AICC chief Sonia Gandhi. Patel is understood to have indicated to the MLAs to meet Sonia Gandhi. The demand of the dissidents has also been highlighted to Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee,who is also a Congress leader.
The Naga MLAs A Aza and W Keishing and Z Mangaibou, who were dropped from the Council of Ministers in the Ibobi-led government in the August downsizing, have said that the recent series of corruption leveled against the Works Department have demoralized the Congress legislators.