Cong ridicules claims of CM
Source: The Sangai Express

Thoubal, October 30 2020: Ex-Chief Minister and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Okram Ibobi has categorically stated that the public, not Chief Minister N Biren should judge the performance of Congress Government during its 15 years rule in the State.

Campaign for Wangjing-Tentha AC's Congress candidate Moirangthem Hemanta at Khongjom Papal today, Ibobi remarked that the incumbent Chief Minister's repeated claim at public that the Congress Government did not do anything for the welfare of people during its 15 years rule smacked of utter shamelessness.

People are witness to what the Congress Government did and they may determine the performance of the Congress Government, Ibobi said.

Addressing the election rally organised by Wangjing-Tentha Block Congress Committee, Ibobi pointed out that the by-election is a gift of some MLAs who have no shame in hopping from one party to another and then another.

It is rather ludicrous that the incumbent Chief Minister has been asking repeatedly at public functions what the Congress Government did during their 15 years rule, said the CLP leader.

What the Congress Government did may be judged by the people but no one would be able to point any single significant achievement of the BJP-led Government during the last three years and a half, Ibobi asserted.

All the MLAs were given mandate by the people to represent them in the State Assembly for five years and one cannot simply shake off the responsibility just as he/she feels like, Ibobi said.

However, some individuals after resigning from the State Assembly are contesting the by-election as candidates of the ruling party because they either mistook the people as fools or are ignorant of the Constitution.

By doing so, they are humiliating the people of their respective Assembly segments, Ibobi continued.

The ex-MLAs have been trying to hoodwink the masses and vindicate their decision by claiming that they joined the ruling so that they could serve the people better.

The incumbent Government was barely three months old when Paonam Brojen joined BJP but everyone knows whether Brojen brought a single new project to Wangjing-Tentha AC during the last three years and half after he had joined the ruling party, said the CLP leader.

He went on to claim that whatever projects and schemes being implemented in Wanjing-Tentha AC were initiated during the time of the Congress Government.

Brojen who thinks he can win the by-election by distributing some rice and money must be taught a befitting lesson.

People ought not to re-elect those who had voluntarily given up the post of MLA, Ibobi added.

MLA K Ranjit questioned the basis of Chief Minister N Biren's claim that there was discord between hill people and plain people and Congress party was rejected by hill people when Congress was in power.

He dismissed the Chief Minister's claim by pointing out that Congress candidates were elected from nine Assembly segments out of the 20 Assembly segments located in hill districts.

It was the Biren Government which subjected a large number of innocent students and teachers of Manipur University to utter humiliation and atrocities as the issue of former VC AP Pandey raged in the university campus and beyond.

Again, it was the Biren Government which allowed security forces to unleash terror inside MU campus by firing live rounds, mock bombs and rubber bullets, Ranjit said.

Even though Biren grew up as a journalist, he invoked NSA and imprison journalist for speaking against his Government, Ranjit remarked.

It is a matter of shame that the Biren-led Government has been claiming to have undertaken a lot of development works by constructing a few bridges over footpaths at Imphal and one market complex each at hill district headquarters, said the Congress MLA.

Even if Chief Minister N Biren has forgotten, people still remember the fact that it was the Congress Government which drove away Assam Rifles from Kangla.

It was during the Congress Govt that Manipur University was upgraded to a Central University, three multi-storeyed Ima Keithels were constructed and a tribal university was set up.

Again it was the Congress Government which lifted AFSPA from seven Assembly segments covered by the Imphal Municipal Corporation, Ranjit asserted.

Even though N Biren was first elected to the State Assembly after he took a vow by holding an axe in his hands at the foot of Shahid Minar to protect Manipur, he had the audacity to told a public function held at Madhavpur, Gujarat that there was no Manipur or Arunachal Pradesh or Assam during the time of Lord Krishna and conveniently overlooked the fact that Manipur has a written history of its own spanning over 2000 years, Ranjit said.

He then asked, "Is this how N Biren loves Manipur ?" Directing his tirade against ex-MLA Paonam Brojen, Ranjit said that Brojen is more deadly than coronavirus.

He is a self-seeking and power hungry man who does not understand the meaning of democracy.

Reacting to Chief Minister N Biren's assertion that the ex-MLAs including Brojen made momentous sacrifice by resigning from the State Assembly in the nick of time, Ranjit asked if resignation by an MLA whose disqualification was imminent can be called sacrifice.

The election rally was also participated by MLAs D Korungthang, O Surjakumar and MPCC president M Okendro.

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