Cong, BJP all the way in IMC polls : Neck to neck race
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: June 07 2016 -

A neck to neck race. This is true, at least till the time this commentary is being penned down.

Interesting it is to see the BJP running neck to neck with the Congress in the election to the Imphal Municipal Corporation, for which polling was held on June 2.

With results trickling in, it is clear that it is going to be a close contest between the two parties and this probably will reflect on the Assembly election scheduled anytime in the early part of next year.

With just two MLAs in the House of 60, the rise of the BJP in the State has been remarkable and the present Delhi trip to persuade the Centre to give the nod to the three Bills passed by the State Assembly on August 31 last year may be said to reflect the central role that the BJP has come to play in the State.

Ahead of the All Political Party delegates led by the Chief Minister, the State unit of the BJP has already met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and if the matter was not so serious, the State BJP team may be said to have stolen a march over the team led by the Chief Minister himself.

This is where it needs to be kept in mind that the present trip to Delhi should not be reduced to an exercise of gaining political mileage ahead of the Assembly election.

The matter is too serious to be seen as a tug of war between two political parties.

Not sure how Delhi will respond to the approach of the State Government, but matter has reached such a point that today it can no longer be treated as something which should be solely left to the political party leading the State Government.

During the intense movement launched in the valley of Manipur, the JCILPS more than made it clear that the task of approaching the Centre should be jointly taken up by all the political parties.

The manner in which the State unit office of the BJP was targeted should underline this point.

With the BJP ruling the Centre, it is only natural that the State unit of the party will be expected to do something.

Close contest here and close coordination at Delhi and this is more than indicative that when there are issues which directly impact on the lives of the people, political parties have to shed their differences and strike a common approach.

How the coming together of the Congress and BJP on this issue will impact on the deep divide between the hills and the valley will also be interesting to watch.

For the moment, it is not clear how Delhi will respond, but the emerging importance of the BJP here cannot be ignored.