By Santu Das
New Delhi, Dec 9 (UNI) Congress MP and observer for Manipur, Pradyut Bordoloi, on Thursday categorically said the grand-old party's door is open for alliance with like-minded parties for the 2022 assembly elections in the state, and expressed hope that the ruling BJP will be ousted.
"We are open for an alliance with like-minded parties in Manipur to defeat the BJP. We have kept our doors open," Bordoloi told UNI in an exclusive interview on Wednesday night.
Asked about the party's preparation for the upcoming state polls, Bordoloi said, "Congress' DNA is very strong in Manipur as its support base is very extensive in the state. We are trying to rejuvenate it. We hope to form the next government."
Recalling the 2017 Assembly polls, Bordoloi said: "In the last Assembly elections, Congress obtained the largest majority, but unfortunately the BJP engineered 'defection' and formed the government by bulldozing peoples' mandate."
"BJP thrives in backdoor politics," the Nagaon MP said.
Taking a dig at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark that the BJP had fulfilled all the promises made by the party in the 2017 Assembly polls, the Congress leader said, "This is not true. What they have been doing is somehow managing things. In fact, there is an acute set of dissatisfaction among the people."
Manipur along with Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Goa will go for Assembly elections early next year.
Asked about Trinamool Congress trying to make inroads in the NE states, Bordoloi, said, "There is no upsurge of AITC in NE. We saw the results of the recent civic polls in Tripura."
He also accused the Trinamool of trying to divide 'anti-BJP' segment votes by portraying that the Congress has become weak.
Asked about the 12 Congress MLAs from Meghalaya, who jumped ship to the Mamata Banerjee-led party, the MP said, "It is unfortunate. There is need for more dialogue and measures need to be taken."
On the growing clamour to repeal the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, in the wake of December 4 firing incident in Mon district of Nagaland, the Congress MP said, "AFSPA is being 'misused'. On many instances it has been misused. The time has come to repeal AFSPA. We must not continue with this Act."
Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio and his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad K Sangma, both part of BJP-led Northeast Democratic Alliance, have demanded to repeal the AFSPA following the Mon incident.
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