Imphal, March 5 : Four Opposition parties in the state have joined hands to take on the ruling Congress in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The Manipur Peoples Party (MPP), Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), National Peoples Party (NPP) and Manipur State Congress Party (MSCP) today announced common candidates for the Outer and Inner Manipur parliamentary constituencies.
The four parties will field former Manipur University professor N. Mohendro Singh of the MPP as the common candidate in the Inner constituency while L.B. Sona of the NCP has been named as the common candidate for the Outer constituency.
The parties finalised the candidates during a marathon meeting last night and the names were announced in a media conference at the office of the MPP this afternoon.
The parties claimed that the CPM had also agreed to join the group.
The parties, however, are yet to name the front of the five Opposition parties.
“We will soon finalise the name of the front and the CPM would join it after completing formalities of the party,” former chief minister and president of the NCP, Radhabinod Koijam, announced.
Koijam is also the leader of the Opposition in the House.
“We decided to join hands so as to bring a social, economic and political change where an effective, accountable and transparent administration exists. The joining of hands is the first step towards achieving this goal,” Koijam said while announcing the candidates.
MPP president L. Chandramani Singh and Koijam flayed the Okram Ibobi Singh government saying that the seven-year rule by the Congress-led government failed to protect the life and property of the people.
The MPP and NCP are the largest Opposition parties having four MLAs each. NPP has three while the MSCP does not have any.
Sources in the parties said they had not discussed about joining the NDA.
The Congress is yet to announce its candidate while the BJP had already announced that it would field former chief minister W. Nipamacha Singh as its candidate in the Inner constituency.
With the Congress and its coalition partner CPI heading for separate ways, the combined Opposition is hoping to put up a stiff fight against the candidates of the two parties.
The CPI announced former minister Moirangthem Nara Singh as the party candidate.
The Congress currently represents the Inner constituency while the party did not field any candidates in the last Assembly elections.
The present MP of the Outer constituency is an Independent. This time, the Congress is set to contest the Outer seat as well.
The Outer constituency will go to the polls on April 16 while the Inner constituency will vote in the second phase on April 22.
