Congress on shaky ground in poll season
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 30, 2021 -

WHILE strict adherence to safety guidelines and Covid appropriate behaviour is certain to help break the transmission chain of the virulent virus, but the fate of the Congress party in the state remains unpredictable with resignation of its Bishnupur MLA Govindas Konthoujam from both the party's primary membership and the Manipur Legislative Assembly unarguably exposing disorder in the country's grand old political organisation.

When Govindas stepped down from the post of president of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) some days back rumours were rife that he along with some party legislators might join the ruling BJP or extend support to extricate the N Biren government from possible collapse in case the pending judgment of the Supreme Court pertaining to the case of disqualification of 12 BJP MLAs favours the petitioners.

However, Govindas deciding to sever ties with the Congress party and call it quits from being a member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly before his term ends should be an issue of huge interest to the political analysts.

As the assembly secretariat has confirmed departure of the multiple-time elected Congress legislator and declared his Bishnupur assembly seat vacant, speculation over the next move of Govindas is that he would either float a new political outfit or formally join the ruling front.

However, Govindas preferring to remain aloof from the public domain and forwarding his resignation letter through a close aide on Wednesday coupled with Speaker Y Khemchand conveying that Govindas took the decision on his own volition implies that the latter is leaving his parent party for good, probably in search of a greener pasture.

The departure of Govindas also leaves nothing to doubt that the Congress party has been rapidly losing its aura in the state and the organisation might face more problem if some other party MLAs, who have also been incommunicado since his shirking responsibility as the MPCC president, decide to part ways.

As revealed by MPCC interim president MLA N Loken, party leaders tried to communicate with Govindas ever since he submitted his resignation letter from the post of president of MPCC on July 19 but they could not establish communication with him.

Regardless of the interim president claiming there is no issue between Govindas and the party and observing that reason for the resignation must be personal, it is obvious that the Congress party is presently in troubled water.

The MPCC might be determine to neu-tralise impact of Govindas' departure but its immediate task would be to keep the house in order and ensuring that there are no more ef-fluxes of prominent faces as fielding rookies for the upcoming assembly election and expecting them to emerge triumphant would be a tough call, if not impossible.

With the BJP leading the coalition government at the Centre, the state's adult franchisees would also be inclined to favour candidates who have the potential to be part of the ruling entity rather than see their representatives seating in the opposition bench and countering decisions of the government in their five-year tenure.

Thus, it could be safely stated that it is the Congress party which will have to toil the hardest to make an impact in the next democratic exercise due in early 2022.