Imphal, April 29: With the Manipur Peoples' Party (MPP), the oldest regional party in the North East region deciding to field its candidate for the by-election to the Khangabok Assembly Constituency scheduled to be held on June 2, the stage appears to be set for a possible straight fight between the Congress and the MPP once again.

In the last election to the 9th Manipur Legislative Assembly, Chief Minister I Ibobi Singh, who was a Congress candidate and former Minister L Jatra of MPP contested with Ibobi emerging the winner. A joint meeting of all the office bearers and the legislators of the MPP was held at the party office today afternoon with party president Dr L Chandramani in the chair to discuss the issue related to the upcoming by-election to Khangabok and Khundrakpam Assembly Constituencies.

The meeting decided to field a prospective candidate of the party in the Khangabok by-election.

However, discussion on whether a party candidate should be fielded or not in the Khundrakpam by-election has been deferred.

According to information received here, former Minister L Jatra, who had also contested in the election to the 9th Manipur Legislative Assembly but tasted defeat might possibly be fielded again as the MPP's candidate in the by-election to the Khangabok Assembly Constituency.

Talking to The Sangai Express after emerging from the joint meeting of the party legislators and office bearers, leader of the Legislature Party of MPP, O Joy said MPP has decided to field its candidate in the Khangabok by-election.

It has also been decided to urged other political parties to extend their support to the MPP candidate, he added.

Joy informed that a notification would be issued inviting applications from all those who would like to contest in the by-election as the party's candidate from May 1.However, the final decision as to who would be chosen as the party candidate will be taken by the committee concerned, Joy added.

Today's meeting also discussed the Khundrakpam by-election as there is the possibility that the two by-elections may be clubbed together in view of the fact that no election notification has been issued although the Election Commission of India had already announced that the Khangabok by-election would be held on June 2, Joy said.

Commenting on the call of the BJP State unit to field a common candidate of all the Opposition parties in the by-election, Joy said proposal of the BJP is welcomed.

Nonetheless, he appealed to all concerned to support the candidate to be fielded by MPP as the common candidate.

Giving his personal opinion in response to a question on projecting Randhoni, wife of Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh as the candidate of the Congress party in the upcoming Khangabok by-election, Joy quipped 'days of colonial rule has been over long ago and so let the people of Manipur in general and Khangabok in particular take their decision on the current political scenario and the stand of the Congress party'.

Meanwhile, NCP, which is one of the partners of the Opposition group in the Assembly has made it clear that it would stay away from contesting in the Khangabok by-election rather it would extend support to candidates of other political parties in the Opposition group.

However, it would field its candidate in the Khundrakpam by-election since Th Navakumar, whose untimely demise has necessitated the by-election was a party candidate.

General secretary (organisation) of the party has also appealed to other political parties for extending support to its candidate in the Khundrakpam by-election.

On the other hand, a meeting of the State executive committee of RJD which has extended support to the ruling SPF Government, was held at the party office today with its president and former Chief Minister Wahengbam Nipamacha in the chair to by-elections to the Khangabok and Khundrakpam Assembly Constituencies.

Although the meeting decided against fielding its own candidate in the Khangabok by-election scheduled to be held on June 2, but no definite decision as to which party would be supported in the by-election has been taken.

Since the party is extending its support the Congress-led SPF Government, it is very likely that RJD would support the Congress candidate.

As for the Khundrakpam by-election, since L Tomchou who contested in the election to the 9th Manipur Legislative Assembly as RJD candidate has already communicated to the party president on his willingness to contest in the by-election again, today's meeting resolved to send an official team of the party led by its president Wahengbam Nipamacha to discuss the matter with other National party leaders and office bearers at New Delhi very soon.

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