Imphal, Dec. 21: As many as 10 Manipur ministers suspected to be disloyal to chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh have been temporarily banished from the state to prevent the BJP-led Opposition from staging a coup with their help. Jolted by the Democratic People?s Alliance (DPA)?s invitation to disgruntled members of the ruling coalition to join the oust-Ibobi campaign, the chief minister put seven ministers on a Calcutta-bound flight on Friday. Two more ministers joined them in the Bengal capital the next day.
The exodus continued today with another minister of cabinet rank, a known Ibobi baiter, and Speaker T.N. Haokip reaching the hotel where the rest of the group has been staying.
Ibobi Singh?s strategy to shield the Congress-led Secular Progressive Front (SPF) from the prying eyes of the Opposition is seen as a sign of desperation. Two of his confidants, family welfare minister K. Bijoy Singh and agriculture minister K. Ranjit Singh, are in Calcutta to ensure that the exiled group does not stray.
Sources said the chief minister decided to shunt the ministers out of the state on learning that some of them were hobnobbing with the DPA leadership. A few months ago, he expelled two ministers from the Congress for six years and ousted another from the ministry on charges of revolting against him.
Claiming to be inching towards the goal of unseating Ibobi Singh, DPA leader R.K. Dorendro Singh said the state?s floundering economy could not recover under the SPF. He said Delhi, too, had lost faith in the government and was unwilling to bail out Ibobi Singh from the financial crisis.
BJP Lok Sabha member Thounaojam Chaoba Singh repeated the DPA?s appeal to members of the ruling coalition to change sides before leaving for the capital this afternoon.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the DPA pleaded for a CBI inquiry into alleged attempts by the Ibobi Singh government to bribe officials of the Union finance ministry to clear projects and release funds.
Ibobi Singh had refuted the allegation a few days ago, saying there was no question of his government trying to grease the palms of officials.
The chief minister is banking on the anti-defection amendment bill to save his government, His strategy to ward off the DPA is to keep the dissenters in the SPF away from the state till the amendment becomes a legislation.
The Opposition, on the other hand, hopes the disgruntled members of the Ibobi Singh government will switch allegiance before the act comes about. Sources said DPA leaders were frantically trying to establish contact with the ministers holed up in Calcutta.
The Congress? line is that all 10 ministers are out of station for official engagements.