Manipur set for BJP vs Congress fight once again

Sources in BJP said that the saffron party was eager for a pre-poll alliance with the NPF, but the party is reluctant given the Centre's unwillingness to withdraw the AFSPA

Manipur is poised for an electoral battle between ruling BJP and the opposition Congress in the Assembly elections on February 27 and March 3 given the unwillingness of National People's Party (NPP) and Naga People's Front (NPF), two regional parties for a pre-poll alliance.

In 2017 Assembly elections, Congress had emerged as the single largest party by winning 28 of the 60 Assembly seats and BJP bagged 21 seats. NPP and NPF, which contested separately won four seats each. BJP managed to wrest power from Congress by taking both NPP and NPF on board and thereby formed its first government in the state. Congress' tally has come down to 17 due to defections.

The coalition with NPP and NPF, however, was not smooth with the NPP MLAs even threatening to topple the government in June 2020. NPF, having base in the Naga-dominated areas in the hill constituencies, on the other hand maintained its opposition against the CAA ans the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, which is in force in Manipur, along with Nagaland, Assam and parts of Arunachal Pradesh. The hill areas, dominated by both Naga and Kukis (both Christians) has 20 seats.

Read | BJP likely to go solo this time in Manipur elections

Sources in BJP told DH that the saffron party was eager for a pre-poll alliance with the NPF this time, but the party is reluctant given the Centre's unwillingness to withdraw the AFSPA from Manipur and killing of civilians by army in Nagaland in December. "NPF, although is part of the coalition government in Manipur, wants to wait and watch the Centre's decision regarding the demand for repeal of the AFSPA. There is a strong sentiment against the AFSPA among the Nagas and so it is perhaps sceptical about fallout of a pre-poll alliance over the AFSPA issue," said the source.

Pre-poll alliance with NPP is also unlikely mainly due to opposition of the party leaders in the state. The NPP leaders in Manipur, including deputy Chief Minister Y Joykumar Singh is opposed to the pre-poll alliance given their differences with CM N Biren Singh.

Biren Singh, meanwhile, is repeatedly asking BJP workers to achieve absolute majority in order to avoid the kind of embarrassment his government faced in June 2020 when NPP threatened to quit the coalition.

Both NPP and NPF, however, are not willing to join the Congress camp given the fact that they are part of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), a forum of BJP regional allies in the Northeast and BJP is in power at the Centre. "If you look at the history of the regional parties in the Northeast, they always prefer to stay with the party leading the government at the Centre as the states in the region lacks own resources and always depend on the Centre for funds to take up development works. So we don't see any possibility of the small parties joining us till we defeat Narendra Modi government at the Centre in 2024," said a Congress insider.

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