Cong rolling up sleeves ahead of LS polls : O Joy set to join Cong
- The Sangai Express Editorial :: December 03 2018 -

It will be interesting to see O Joy in his new avatar as a Congressman, after having quit the BJP.

The announcement that he is ready to join the Congress made it to all the Imphal based newspapers and this more than testifies that the man from Langthabal Assembly Constituency is still a political figure to count on, despite his loss in the Assembly elections of 2012 and 2017.

An indication that one can be in the political limelight despite losing elections.

It remains to be seen how Joy will go along with the Congress, but the decision must have been taken after considering all the pros and cons and the political situation.

Interesting to see that a man who came into the political limelight as a staunch opposition to the Congress should today deem it fit to the sup with the same party against which he had steadfastly stood against.

Perhaps this is the beauty of democracy and underlines the widely held belief that in politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent foes.

It also goes along with politics as is understood in the context of Manipur.

In joining the Congress, O Joy will also be supping with TN Haokip, who shot into the limelight as an MPP man many, many years back.

What is interesting is the point that TN Haokip is today the president of the MPCC (I).

So what can one expect from O Joy once he enters the Congress and will it substantially help the party, especially in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections ?

Tough to say, but to be sure one can expect interesting times and it would be an experience to see the Congress matching wits with the BJP in the run up to the election and in O Joy they have a man who can literally take the fight to the BJP.

In Gaikhangam the Congress has a man who can charm his way through with his oratorial skills and in O Joy they may have a man who can perfectly complement this with his no nonsense approach to many of the issues besieging the State.

It is here that it will be interesting to see how the Congress manage to combine the two to deliver a ‘magic potion’ to the people.

Moreover it will also be interesting to see how the BJP and its allies go about trying to blunt the combine of the two personalities.

In Karam Shyam, the man who unseated O Joy from Langthabal AC, the BJP may just have the right ally to blunt the onslaught of Joy and this is where it will become more interesting.

The Congress too will need to look beyond the Inner Parliamentary Constituency and see how it can neutralise the BJP and its allies in the Outer Parliamentary Constituency.

Can it stop the impact of the BJP and NPF combine in the Outer seat particularly in the areas dominated by the Nagas ?

How about Churachandpur and Kangpokpi ?

As stated many times in this column, the Lok Sabha polls will be more or less a straight fight between the Congress and the BJP and the exit and entry of some influential political leaders from either of the two political parties can somehow impact on the elections.

It is against this background that the decision of Joy to join the Congress may be viewed.