Revolt against Ibobi threatens to rock SPF boat

Imphal, April 30: All is not well within the Congress which is heading the SPF Government. According to a highly placed source, some members of the party have openly revolted against Chief Minister O Ibobi demanding his resignation. On the other hand, the Central leaders of the BJP have reportedly given the blessing to form a BJP-led Government here to the State BJP leaders during their recent trip to Delhi.The source revealed that the Congress is now divided into two camps - one favoring Ibobi while the other disagrees with his style of governance. The group has even started projecting the Commerce and Industry Minister Th Debendra for the post of Chief Minister. It has also reportedly decided to merge with another like-minded party if the need arises. In another interesting development, two major political parties including an ally of the SPF and a major regional party which is in the Opposition have approached the Congress for a formal merger. Chief Minister O Ibobi and Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing have intimated the AICC of the offer made by the regional Opposition party. The other, which is an ally of the SPF has reportedly approached Rishang Keishing for a possible merger. For reasons known only to Rishang and the party concerned, Ibobi was not informed of this. According to a Congress legislator, the party held a meeting yesterday and discussed the question of merger proposed by the two parties. However, most of the legislators were not in favor of admitting the regional Opposition party. Though the merger has been proposed long before, the Congress is finding it hard to take a decision keeping in mind the political situation. Meanwhile, the Opposition bloc is busy scheming ways to topple the SPF Govt. The DPA members held a meeting and discussed in detail the current political atmosphere and financial condition. According to a member, the State BJP leaders went to Delhi to apprise the Central leaders of the political situation of the State. After a patient hearing, the Central leaders encouraged them to form the Government here. The members minutely discussed the green signal from the Centre to form a BJP-led Govt. BJP central leaders are arriving here on May 7 to assess the political situation and thereby chart out a course for the BJP to occupy the seat of power. A DPA leader said that though the BJP had the requisite number before PR was imposed, the prevailing situation had influenced the BJP leaders to forgo the idea of forming the Government.