Asem Bhakta Singh, Special Correspondent North East
Imphal: (Waari Singbul Network) At a time when aspiring candidates are seeking for party tickets for the ensuing Lok Sabha polls in conflict-hit Manipur, the CPI has named Laishram Sotinkumar Singh as its candidate in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary Constituency.
Manipur has two parliamentary seats, Inner and Outer, and the latter is reserved for scheduled tribes. Out of the total 60 assembly segments in the state, 32 come under the Inner seat, while 28 segments fall under the Outer constituency.
A resident of the Khurai area in Imphal East district, Sotinkumar is the Manipur unit general secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and former state secretary of the party.
The left party’s national executive council meeting held in New Delhi on Thursday recommended Sotinkumar as the state’s Inner seat candidate for the polls.
“I’m grateful to our party leaders for recommending me as candidate in the Inner Manipur Parliamentary constituency,” the 72-year-old politician said on Saturday.
On the preparedness for the fray, he said the party has already started works at the grassroot level at several places which come under the Inner constituency.
“Our party has around 5000 hardcore members in Manipur and they have already carried out welfare programmes for the people and other works relating to the party at their respective jurisdictions,” said the seasoned politician.
“This being the case, it would be easier for us to streamline the campaign which would be rolled out soon,” he continued.
To finalize the poll strategies, including fixing of date to roll out campaign and publication of the party’s poll manifesto, a meeting will be convened soon, Singh added.
Though there will a “friendly fight among like-minded parties in the Inner constituency,” CPI in on the verge of supporting Congress in the Outer seat, he said, adding “our common target is to defeat the ruling BJP.”
CPI came out victorious twice in Manipur – in 1967 and 1980 polls – in the Inner seat and once in 1998 in the Outer constituency.
On the other hand, consultations for recommending the names of candidates for the state in the BJP, Congress, Naga People’s Front (NPF) etc. are on in their respective forums , even as Manipur PCC has already sent a list of four aspiring candidates for both Inner and Outer seats to the AICC.
The election buzz also comes amid some civil bodies’ collective call to oppose the polls in view of the unceasing ethnic feud which began in May last year.
