Questions which have piqued people's interest : Possible post poll scenario
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: January 19, 2022 -

It is not only a question of which party will occupy the seat of power after the Assembly election which has piqued people's interest, but how many more of the current crop of Congress MLAs or Congress leaders will continue with the party.

And this point has come about not without reason.

As things stand today, the strength of the Congress in the Assembly has dwindled from the 28 it won after the Assembly election in 2017 to now less than 20 and the natural question is how many of the remaining Congress MLAs are understood to be waiting in the departure lounge of the party !

On the other hand, things seem to be going great guns for the BJP, with many intending BJP candidates lining up in different Assembly Constituencies, but the more interesting question should centre around on who is likely to be the legislature wing leader and by extension the Chief Minister, if the saffron party manage to win or cobble up a majority in the House of 60.

With the opinion polls conducted by some private agencies all pointing to the BJP returning to power, this question will become more and more interesting as the saffron party has so far not named its Chief Ministerial candidate.

This is where the public statement of Union Home Minister Amit Shah some time back gains significance.

It was not an open endorsement as such, but the Union Home Minister did refer to the progress made by the BJP led Government under the Chief Ministership of N Biren in the last 5 years and this is something which would have gone down well with all those who are believed to be close to the Chief Minister.

However the final word is yet to be said and in case the BJP returns to power, then the race to the CM's chair can be interesting to all the keen observers. Another interesting point is how the other political parties might play their cards once the result is announced.

Will the NPP and the NPF continue with the alliance with the BJP or will Manipur see a shift in post poll ties ?

This question is important for the BJP has on more than one occasion talked about the need to form the Government on its own without having to rely on alliance partners.

40 seats, this is what the Chief Minister is eyeing and this has been made public on more than one occasion.

It is perhaps this figure of 40 which prompted Deputy Chief Minister and leader of the State unit of NPP, Y Joykumar to proclaim that it would be unrealistic for any party to repeat what the Congress managed after the 2012 Assembly election in bagging 42 seats.

Herein lies the interesting part. In one statement, the Deputy Chief Minister sought to blunt the pronouncement of the Chief Minister and in the same measure conveyed the message that the NPP is not a pushover party, which can be ignored.

What has made the verbal sparring all that more interesting is the point that there is no pre-poll alliance between any party, which means anything can happen after the election.

As already noted in an earlier commentary, being in a good position has meant that the BJP is literally spoilt for choices and the number of intending BJP candidates will probably be the first challenge before the saffron party.

There must be different criteria according to which the list of candidates will be finalised and while the BJP will obviously have its own criteria, it stands true that the first step towards touching the finishing line will depend on the choice of the candidates lined up.

The Congress does not seem to have a problem of 'too many,' but it has already started delivering some tough decisions and it remains to be seen how well this will go down with the people, especially the decision to suspend Thangmeiband AC MLA Kh Joykisan from the primary membership of the party.