Imphal, December 31 2008: LET'S STRENGTHEN Congress party all the more by winning both seats of the Lok Sabha in the coming general elections, Chief Minister O Ibobi said.

He was speaking at a function held at the Congress Bhavan to felicitate Mairembam Prithviraj who just won the by-election of Moirang assembly constituency held on December 27 .

Expressing happiness on the success of Prithviraj, Chief Minister Ibobi thanked the electorate of Moirang AC for having voted for Prithviraj, son of the late MLA M Manindra.

The people of Moirang have shown that they have full confidence in Congress party for which he and the party would ever remain grateful, he said.

Moirang AC is a historical place and the government would do everything possible to develop the place.

All that the late MLA had thought of developing Moirang AC, now Prithviraj would be made to complete, the Chief Minister said.

He also thanked the minority Muslim community of Moirang AC for having supported the Congress candidate.

He would try to turn all the memoranda submitted to him before the by-election into actions, he said. When he was alive, Manindra had told him that he would like to develop the complex of Ibudhou Thangjing.

That will be translated into reality.

The late MLA had also tried hard to expand the Moirang bazar.

That will also be taken up very soon, Chief Minister Ibobi said.

Rs 400 crore has already been sanctioned to develop Loktak lake as a tourist centre.

The road from Moirang to Sendra will also be expanded into four lanes, Ibobi said.

Regarding the Local Area Development Fund (LADF), the Chief Minister said, the annual LADF for an MLA is Rs 40 lakh.

The people know very well where the money is being spent.

Therefore, when the people enquire about the funds, the MLAs should be able to give accurate accounts of where the funds were spent.

For this records should be kept properly, he said and appealed to the MLAs to try to give the exact proof of the money spent.

MPCC president Gai-khangam who also spoke at the function, maintained that the success of Congress in the Moirang AC by-election is a great achievement of the party.

It was an acknowledgement of the performance of the Ibobi government by the people of Moirang AC.

The party, the government and the newly elected MLA would try to translate all the assurances given before the by-election into reality.

MLA T Mangibabu, MP Dr T Meinya, Ministers Allauddin Khan, Phungzathang Tonsing and L Jayentakumar also spoke on the occasion.

Officer bearers and workers of MPCC attended the function.

Earlier, Chief Minister O Ibobi, Ministers, Congress MLAs and functionaries warmly received M Prithviraj by garlanding him.

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