Ongoing economic blockade. District status or not to Sadar Hills and Jiribam. Demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes. These are the issues which will impact on the upcoming Assembly election and it remains to be seen how the different political parties play these issues to garner support from the voters. And to be sure the Congress and the BJP will leave nothing to chance to exploit these issues to their advantage. How well they manage to win the voters over remains to be seen, but it stands that the Congress which did remarkably well in the 2012 Assembly election, winning 42 seats in the 60 seat Assembly, has not been able to translate the massive mandate it received at the hustings to something concrete at the ground level. This is best exemplified by its failure to act on the district status question. The result is the suffering of the common people. As things stand today, the Congress remains boycotted at all the hill districts, with the Naga dominated districts, having said a firm no to the Congress and Churachandpur following suit after the Assembly passed the three Bills on August 31 last year. The party has also been boycotted at Sadar Hills, which has three Assembly segments, following the alleged last minute decision to roll back the move to grant district status to Sadar Hills. The best bet for the Congress therefore remains the valley area, which gets to send 40 MLAs in the House of 60. Even here it will not be an easy ride for remember the BJP is breathing down its neck, best exemplified by the run away victory of the BJP in the by election to two Assembly Constituencies.
Not everything looks good for the Congress and this is something which the BJP will not miss. However so far the BJP has not spelt out its stand on the demand to grant district status to Sadar Hills and Jiribam. What is the stand of the BJP on these two issues ? Or will it be politically prudent for the party not to make any public stand on these two issues ? How about the stand of the other political parties ? Moreover what has happened to much tom tommed slogan tribal solidarity that was bandied about, especially after the three Bills were passed last year ? How will the question of district status to Sadar Hills impact on the voters of Churachandpur which has six Assembly segments ? Tough to say but when election time comes, all these questions will certainly be played out and how well prepared is the Congress to deal with these issues, is the question that comes naturally. Probably in a few days time the election model code of conduct will come into force and clearly Chief Minister O Ibobi and his Council of Ministers will have to make up their mind soon or else the Congress will go to the polls looking totally unprepared.
Source: The Sangai Express
