Imphal: The Congress party and the National People’s Party (NPP) are likely to come up with their respective second lists of candidates even as the ruling BJP is yet to release the same till Saturday.
A reliable source said that BJP will announce the list of candidates for the party today as it has been given a final go ahead from the the top central leaders.
The opposition Congress party on January 22 had announced the list of 40 candidates for the upcoming Manipur assembly polls.
NPP had also announced names of the first list of 20 candidates on January 24. Second list, as per the party’s announcement is to be released on or before January 31. The first list included three of the four sitting legislators of the party in Manipur, including deputy chief minister Y Joykumar Singh.
Also read: Manipur Congress in a maha gathbandhan move, forms pre-poll alliance with five parties
AICC Manipur in-charge Bhakta Charan Das who arrived in Imphal Saturday will be camping in the State for the next few days to finalize the names of the candidates. Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) will prepare the list of candidates and will forward it to the AICC for approval before releasing the same through the AICC. Das visit to Manipur will discuss poll strategies of the party that formed a pre-poll alliance with five other political parties – Manipur units of CPI, CPI(M), JD(S), RSP and Forward Block.
NPP, even though a partner of the BJP in the coalition government in the State, it had earlier declared no pre-poll alliance to fight the ensuing poll in the State.
“We will be releasing the second list of candidates,” said national vice president of NPP Y Joykumar who is also the deputy chief minister in the present BJP-led coalition government in the state. He hinted that the list may be of at least 20 more candidates. Names of around 13 candidates have already been finalized and the remaining will be finalized soon, most probably after BJP releases its list of candidates, he said.
The deputy chief minister was addressing a party function held in Imphal today to felicitate an intending candidate joining the party.
Also read: NPP releases first list of 20 candidates for Manipur polls; no pre-poll alliance
Meanwhile, an intending candidate from Andro assembly constituency of Imphal East district, Lourembam Sanjoy Saturday joined NPP. While rolling out the red carpet to the intended candidate, the national vice president declared that he (Sanjoy) will be an NPP candidate in the ensuing poll from Andro constituency. On the occasion, Joykumar said that NPP was ready to give opportunities to the intending candidates who are rejected by the BJP but have the best chance of winning the elections.
The national vice president of NPP reiterated that the party will take a major role in the formation of a new government after the elections while saying that no party will get an absolute majority.
“None of the political parties will get absolute majority. NPP will emerge as the single largest party and take a major role in the formation of government in the state after the election,” he further said. The deputy chief minister hopes that the party will win more than 20 seats to become the single largest party.
He claimed that NPP is gaining popularity with every passing day in the state as people have now realized that only NPP can protect the interest of the indigenous people of the northeast region.