Imphal: After Arunachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, crisis in Manipur unit of Congress is looming large with 25 dissident MLAs not budging an inch from their long-standing demand of effecting a major reshuffle in the Okram Ibobi Singh ministry and the incumbent ministers' sharp reaction.
To end the crisis, chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and deputy CM Gaikhangam would meet AICC president Sonia Gandhi on Monday, said the newly appointed Manipur PCC president TN Haokip on Saturday.
In fact, Sonia appointing Haokip as the new state PCC president was one of the two key demands of the dissidents. Their other demand is to drop 'incompetent' ministers, except Okram and Gaikhangam. The ministers have threatened to resign en mass if the CM, under AICC directive, replaced anyone of them.
Rejecting the dissidents' allegations that the council of ministers have underperformed, the ministers said it was the CM's right and duty to evaluate their performances. However, no minister was ready to speak openly.
Of the 60-member assembly, Congress has 48 MLAs and apart from the CM and deputy CM, there are 10 ministers. A senior dissident MLA told TOI that their number has risen to 35. He blamed the inability of the present ministers for the various problems that the state is facing, including law and order.
Soon after assuming office as the state PCC president at Congress Bhavan here, Haokip said he would work hard to strengthen the party at all levels to ensure its victory in the coming municipal and assembly elections. He said, "My first priority is to streamline the party organizations to gear up for the next assembly election early next year."
A former speaker of Manipur legislative assembly, Haokip acknowledged the dissident MLAs' two-and-a-half-year-old demand of effecting a major cabinet reshuffle.
Succumbing to the dissident MLAs' pressure to invoke Congress's 'one-man one-post policy', Sonia, last Tuesday, appointed Haokip as the new Manipur PCC president in place of Gaikhangam, who also holds the home portfolio.
The rebel MLAs, however, made it clear that they would not break the party and would fight the next assembly election under Okram's leadership to make sure that Congress comes to power for the fourth consecutive term.