Haokip is new Manipur PCC chief

The AICC has taken corrective steps by removing Manipur PCC chief and deputy chief minister (home minister) Gaikhangam after losing power in Arunachal Pradesh and facing a serious crisis in Uttarakhand due to the growing dissent among the party legislators.

Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday appointed T.N. Haokip, the sitting MLA, as the PCC chief in place of Mr Gaikhangam after realising that the party could lose power in Manipur as well. This is because Manipur, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka are on the BJP’s “hit list” which is trying to cash in on the growing dissension among the Congress MLAs. Earlier, Mrs Gandhi had summoned Manipur chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh and Mr Gaikhangam in connection with the unflinching stand of the dissidents within the ruling Congress. Manipur is scheduled to go to the polls in February 2017. Mr Okram Ibobi Singh is under pressure to reconstitute his team in the election year by the party aspirants who are turning into rebels.

Uttarakhand, Manipur, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh are gearing up for the electoral battle in early next year. While the party has not been able to contain dissidents in Assam and Kerala, going to the polls next month, and Uttarakhand and Manipur, dissension is spreading in Punjab where a section of the party is openly daring PCC chief Amrinder Singh.

On one hand, the AICC has not been able to check its ambitious leaders and the regional satraps in these states and on the other, it has been failing to revive the fighting spirit among the workers in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand and Delhi.

In Maharashtra, the BJP ally Shiv Sena has been playing the role of “Opposition” and the BJD, Trinamul Congress, AIADMK, JD(U), RJD and TRS have succeeded in checking the saffron party from making inroads in Orissa, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar and Telangana.