Land of Jewels (Sana Leibak)

Ibobi wants to develop Moirang Imphal: Let's strengthen Congress party all the more by winning both seats of the Lok Sabha in the coming general elections, Chief Minister O Ibobi said. He was speaking at a function held at the Congress Bhavan to felicitate Mairembam Prithviraj who just won the by-election of Moirang assembly constituency held on December 27 . Expressing happiness on the success of Prithviraj, Chief Minister Ibobi thanked the electorate of Moirang AC for having voted for Prithviraj, son of the late MLA M Manindra. The people of Moirang have shown that they have full confidence in Congress party for which he and the party would ever remain grateful, he said. Moirang AC is a historical place and the government would do everything possible to develop the place. All that the late MLA had thought of developing Moirang AC, now Prithviraj would be made to complete, the Chief Minister said. He also thanked the minority Muslim community of Moirang AC for having supported the...

Congress candidate Prithiviraj wins Imphal, Dec 30: Continuing its good show in last assembly polls in the North-East, the Congress on Tuesday won the by-election to the prestigious Moirang assembly seat in Manipur. The Congress' candidate M Prithiviraj defeated his nearest rival H Bira of Manipur People's Party (MPP) by over 4,800 votes in the by-election to Moirang in Bishenpur district, election office said today. While Prithiviraj secured a total of 16,225 votes Bira came close by getting 11,338 votes. By-election to the seat was held on December 27. The by-poll was necessitated following the death of Congress MLA M. Manindra who was the father of Prithiviraj some months ago. The Congress-led Secular Progressive Front ministry has 35 seats (Congress 31 and CPI 4) in the 60-member Manipur legislative assembly. Of the rest 25 seats, the opposition Manipur People's Party (MPP) has 5, Rashtriya Janata Dal 3, National People's Party 3, Nationalist Congress Party 4 and i...

State ministers, MLAs honoured: New Delhi, Apr 26: Manipur Commerce and Industries Minister Yumkham Erabot, Chief Whip and Vice President of Manipur Pradesh Congress Committee Tongbram Mangibabu, MLA and Chairman of MANITRON Dr Kh Ratankumar Singh, MLA K. Meghachandra Singh and MLA Awangbow Newmei from Manipur were among those personalities who were honoured with Bharat Excellence Award 2008 on Saturday at Indian International Centre here. The Friendship Forum of India organized the yearly event. The award carried a gold medal and a certificate. The award was given to them for their outstanding extraordinary achievement in their chosen field of activity and services rendered to promote greater friendship and India International cooperation. About 100 personalities from all over the country working in different fields like politics, medical, agriculture, art and culture etc were honoured today. On the occasion, the Minister and the four MLAs were also among those honoured with 'Nor...

U-turn saved MLA Bijoy Koijam’s life: Imphal, Apr 25: It was an unscheduled U-turn that probably saved Congress MLA Bijoy Koijam’s life as the scooter bomb went off in the heavily-fortified VIP Colony here yesterday. Had the ruling party MLA from Thongju of Imphal East not made a U-turn after coming out of his official quarters, his three-vehicle convoy would have received the full impact of the blast that left three bystanders wounded. “I was starting out of my quarters around 10am. But as soon as I spotted the lone scooter parked on the roadside, I got suspicious and immediately asked my drivers and guards to take a U-turn back to my quarters, which was close by. If I had proceeded, the scooter bomb would have exploded as I passed by. I thanked god. The bomb exploded as soon as my car stopped at my gate,” a shaken Koijam told The Telegraph this morning. Koijam, however, could not say whether he was the target. “I cannot say whether I was the target. What I know for sure is that had I...

Cong MLAs to sit together despite differences: Imphal, Jan 31: The third session of the 9th Manipur Legislative Assembly which will have three sittings over a span of five days till February 5 will commence from Friday with the state Governor’s address to the House. An interesting point to be witnessed in Friday’s sitting of the Assembly would be ruling Congress MLAs sitting together at the treasury bench even though the leadership crisis within the party is yet to be settled. Mention may be made that the dissident MLAs of the ruling state Congress who were camping in New Delhi for nearly three months, with a few breaks, returned to the state capital to take part in the Assembly session after withdrawing their threat to boycott the session if chief minister O Ibobi Singh is not replaced. As there are no plans from the Opposition side to put up a no confidence motion against the Ibobi led SPF government despite the leadership crisis in the ruling side the session is likely to continue s...

Rebel MLAs return for Assembly session: Imphal, Jan 30: The dissident Congress MLAs who were lobbying with the party high command for a change in the state CLP leadership returned to Imphal on Wednesday, exuding confidence of a successful conclusion to their campaign to oust Okram Ibobi Singh in the near future. Barring MPCC chief Gaikhangam and minister DD Thaisii, all the dissident MLAs, 14 in number, flew into Imphal this afternoon on an Air India flight. The dissident MLAs came back in the state only to attend the budget session of the state Assembly which is due to commence on February 1 and their return does not mean an end to their campaign for replacing Ibobi as chief minister, said a source in the dissident camp. Before leaving the national capital, they submitted representations to the Congress high command urging to settle the crisis within the party at the earliest. The MLAs who have returned include FCS minister, Y Erabot Singh and Congress chief whip, Mangibabu. Other ML...

'Leader' snubs, rebels fume: Imphal, Jan 27: In what could be a significant gesture, Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Th Debendra who is being projected by the dissident Congress MLAs as their leader has snubbed the rebel camp. With Debendra refusing to heed the call to come to Delhi on Sunday and instead go to Jiribam, the rebel MLAs are literally fuming. In the back drop of the new development, the rebel MLAs have convened an emergency meeting on Monday. Some senior leaders of the dissident group noted that the failure of Thoudam Debendra to respond to the call of the AICC to come to Delhi is tantamount to humiliating and betraying the rebel MLAs. "He will certainly reap the outcome of his act of betrayal very soon," they asserted. The alleged act of Debendra to concede to the reported enticement of the Chief Minister with the portfolio of Finance Minister and various other benefits amount to cheating the people of Manipur, the rebel MLAs fumed. The Law Minister...

'Rebels' ready to give another push, Gaikhangam in Delhi: Imphal, Jan 7: The pressure being exerted by the rebel MLAs camping in New Delhi in pursuance of their demand for replacement of O Ibobi Singh as the chief minister of the state is likely to intensify as the rebels have started gathering at the national capital again. MPCC chief Gaikhangam reached the national capital on Sunday and two ministers, Y Erabot and DD Thaisii, are likely to join the camp within a few days, a source from the rebel camp said on Monday. A group of Congress legislators from the state, mention may be made, are demanding ouster of O Ibobi Singh from chief ministerial post and have been camping in New Delhi since November first week to press for their demands. They returned together for a brief period to Imphal and camped in here during the visit of the Union minister of state attached to the PMO during his visit to the state in the early part of December last year. Since then they have regrouped at ...

Protest lined up: Imphal, Jan 7: A people's convention held here under the aegis of Delimitation Watch Manipur decided to observe a day of protest on January 10 to send out a loud and clear message to all authorities including the Government of India and the Delimitation Commission of India that the people of Manipur would not accept delimitation of the existing Assembly and Parliamentary constituencies based on the 'fictitious' census report of 2001. After a detailed deliberation on the issue, the convention held with Heikrujam Nabashyam, Naorem Dinachandra Singh and Ng Jugeswor as presidium members came to the conclusion that the census authority had flouted all norms while taking the census report of 2001 in Manipur and published a highly erroneous census data. The convention noted that in the districts of Senapati, Chandel and Ukhrul, the population figure has been recorded unbelievably high to the extent of doubling the actual figure whereas in the four districts of Im...

Rebel Cong MLAs strike confident pose: Imphal, Dec 30: Striking a confident pose, the dissident Congress MLAs who have been demanding a change in the leadership of the Congress Legislature Party have claimed that the AICC may soon take a decision in their favour within the next couple of days. The rebel MLAs, who have raised the banner of revolt against the leadership of Chief Minister O Ibobi for the last few months claim the support of 19 MLAs out of the 31 Congress MLAs in the House of 60. Apart from the deteriorating law and order situation, the rebel MLAs have launched the anti-Ibobi drive on the 'total failure to govern' plank. Significantly, the claim of the rebel MLAs that the AICC may soon take a decision within the next couple of days came after the AICC secretary in charge of North East Prithiviraj Chauhan submitted his report to the AICC leadership after his visit to the State about two weeks back. Apart from getting a first hand account of the law and order situati...

APCC president dies of illness: Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Omem Moyong Deori died of sudden illness at a hospital in New Delhi on Wednesday (December 19) . A Padmashree awardee, Deori, was undergoing treatment at a hospital for the last two weeks. She was 75 and is survived by two daughters and a son. The veteran leader was appointed as the APCC president on August 17 last year and was one of the few women leaders from Northeast, who made her way into the national politics. The APCC president was associated with the Congress since 1973 and was a party working committee member for more than 12 years during her illustrious political career. The mortal remains of Deori would be brought here tomorrow before being taken to her native place Mahadevpur in Lohit district for the last rites. Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu and Home Minister Jarbom Gamlin have expressed deep sorrow over the sudden and untimely demise of the veteran leader. Describing her death a...

Rebels to camp in New Delhi again: Imphal, Dec 14: Refusing to retreat from their efforts to oust O Ibobi Singh from chief ministership and to put further pressure on the Congress high command at the Centre, the rebel Congress MLAs who were camping in Imphal since a few days back will again shift to the national capital, New Delhi, on Saturday. Meanwhile, chief minister O Ibobi Singh who left the state capital on Friday on an official tour outside the state handed over the charge of chief ministerial duties to the senior most minister, Th Debendra. The chief minister has already reached Guwahati along with his wife Landhoni on Friday. Confirming the shifting of the dissident camp to the national capital, a source in the rebel camp said that air tickets had been booked with the Jet Airways for the MLAs in the rebel camp on Friday. MPCC president Gaikhangam will also leave for New Delhi on Sunday (December 16) to join the camp, the source said. However, four ministers including Th Debend...

Chauhan leaves Imphal, no comments on regime change: Imphal, Dec 13: Union Minister of State and AICC general secretary north east in-charge Prithivi Raj Chauhan left Imphal on Thursday after concluding his three-day visit to the state, making no comments on the question of regime change which rebel Congress MLAs are demanding. Even though he refused to comment on the crisis, replying to questions raised by journalists at the concluding part of the inspection, Chauhan said, "I am satisfied with the works progress". However, he refused to comment on the main purpose of his visit to the state, the question of replacement of Ibobi as chief minister of Manipur. Officially Chauhan came to Imphal to inspect the status of the implementation of works taken up in the state with Central funds under the Prime Minister`s package. After his return to New Delhi he is scheduled to visit other states of the country where projects were taken up under the same package of the Prime Minister, an...

Chauhan arrives, starts one to one meet with CLP members: Imphal, Dec 11: AICC general secretary in charge of the North East and Union Minister of State in the PMO, Prithiviraj Chauhan who arrived at Imphal on Tuesday to get a first hand account of the revolt raised by some dissident Congress MLAs against the leadership of O Ibobi has started meeting the CLP members individually to hear their opinion. Chauhan who was deputed as an Observer by the AICC will submit his report on reaching Delhi. Chauhan along with Lok Sabha MP Dr T Meinya and executive member of the MPCC (I) L Manglem landed at Tulihal airport on Tuesday at 2 pm. The team was received by a large number of Congress men including MPCC (I) president Gaikhangam, Ministers, MLAs, party workers and members of the Seva Dal. On his arrival, Chauhan called on the Governor at Raj Bhawan along with Gaikhangam. After a short break at Raj Bhawan, Chauhan then proceeded to RIMS to look into the development works being taken up there. L...

Advani assures support to Manipur all party team: Imphal, Dec 10: Delegates of the state all political party forum currently in New Delhi to campaign for delinking Manipur from the delimitation process met with the Opposition leader of the Lok Sabha, LK Advani on Monday seeking his support for their demand seeking a halt to the delimitation process in the state. The all party delegation briefed the BJP leader on various aspects of the controversial issue of delimitation in the state, and made it clear that carrying forward delimitation in Manipur on the basis of the ‘bogus’ 2001 census report would result in undesirable consequences, according to a statement of the NCP general secretary K Sharatkumar on behalf of the all political parties delegation. The BJP leader has assured the delegation that he would suggest to the Central government to convene an all political parties meet to consider the delegation’s demands, particularly for delinking the states of Manipur, Nagaland, Assam and ...

Prithviraj Chauhan arriving Imphal on Tuesday: Imphal, Dec 10: Amidst heightened suspense surrounding the month long hectic campaign by the rebel MLAs to replace O Ibobi as Chief Minister of Manipur, AICC North East in-charge Prithiviraj Chauhan will be arriving at Imphal on Tuesday afternoon as the Central observer to take stock of the existing political situation personally. According to information received from the dissident camp, a series of meetings have been held among the rebel MLAs and necessary political strate-gies chalked out ahead of the arrival of the AICC observer. On the other side, in view of the AICC observer’s arrival, Congress MLAs and MPCC/DCC leaders and Congress candidates defeated in the last Assembly elections supporting O Ibobi have been mobilising themselves with three camps opened at the officials quarters of IFC Minister N Biren, Social Welfare Minister N Loken and Works Minister K Ranjit. Chauhan will be accompanied by Lok Sabha MP Dr T Meinya and MPCC exe...

Ibobi baiters await Delhi envoy : Imphal, Dec. 9: Huddled in well-guarded “camp” since their return from New Delhi, the dissident Congress legislators, who have been lobbying for chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh’s ouster for the past month, are waiting now with baited breath for AICC observer Prithviraj Chauhan to arrive here on Tuesday. The 14, who have met almost all the senior Congress leaders, including Sonia Gandhi and Shivraj Patil, returned to the state capital only after extracting the promise of Chauhan’s visit from the party high command. Chauhan will to speak to all the Congress legislators and party leaders in Imphal and submit a report on the impasse to the party high command on his return to Delhi. Their fingers crossed, the dissident legislators are now camping in the well-guarded official residence of Laishram Nandakumar Singh, MLA. The MLAs are not being allowed to visit their homes or official quarters. Only their relatives are allowed to meet them at the camp. “All t...

Dissident MLAs returning Saturday, Chauhan coming on Dec 11: Imphal, Dec 7: Following days of camping in New Delhi to present their case to AICC leaders in their oust Ibobi campaign, most of the rebel MLAs will touch down at Tulihal airport tomorrow (Saturday). After meeting Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh yesterday (Thursday), the rebel MLAs met AICC chief Sonia Gandhi today (Friday) at about 11 am and made their stand against the continued leadership of O Ibobi clear. Sonia Gandhi is also the Chairperson of the UPA. The rebel MLAs were led by senior Congressman, Th Debendra and during their meeting with Sonia Gandhi, they gave a detailed account of the deteriorating law and order situation in the State, the 'total flop' of the administration, tardy development works as well as the growing dissatisfaction among the Congress workers in the MPCC (I) against the Chief Minister's leadership. Though details of what were discussed at the meeting were not disclosed, the dissiden...

Wungnaoshang hits back at rebel MLAs, Rishang: Imphal, Dec 6: Wungnaoshang Keishing, Independent MLA representing Phungyar Assembly constituency has reacted fiercely to criticism from the dissident Congress MLAs over the supposed Opposition interference in the internal crisis in the state Congress, asserting that they have every right to speak their minds concerning the state government. Wungnaoshang, addressing a press conference today (Thursday) at the state Assembly secretariat however clarified that the recent trip by Opposition MLAs belonging to the Hill Area Committee of the state Assembly to Delhi had nothing to do with Congress internal crisis, nor was it at anyone's behest. The HAC members had discussed the situation in the hill areas, and the problems faced by the hill people with the Central leaders, Wungnaoshang said. He however admitted that they had praised the initiatives taken by Ibobi Singh for the development of the hill areas. “Eikhoidi apha mibu phei hairamba ...

Rebels meet PM on shake-up: Imphal, Dec 6 : The rebel Congress MLAs who have been camping at Delhi for more than a month in their campaign to remove O Ibobi from the post of Chief Ministership, called on the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Thursday for an Ordinance so as to stall the delimitation exercise besides sustaining their oust-Ibobi move. Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Th Debendra who is being projected by the dissident group as their leader and Rajya Sabha MP Rishang Keishing called on Dr Manmohan Singh at about 12.30 pm and apprised the Prime Minister of the prevailing political imbroglio within the CLP. The two senior Congress leaders reportedly told the Prime Minister that replacing O Ibobi with another leader as Chief Minister of Manipur will be able to end the protracted political impasse. Acknowledging the stance of the dissident group and considering the reports culled from different quarters, Dr Manmohan Singh entrusted the party's North East in-charge P...