Count down begins for fall of Ibobi Singh's government

New Delhi, Nov 9 (UNI) The month-old turmoil over the dismissal of Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has intensified, even as the dissident group has signed a memorandum and rendered its support for change of leadership in the State.

According to Manipur Congress party sources, the dissident group is now bent upon removing the Chief Minister as he has failed to improve the state's law and order situation.

Extortion, killing and bomb blasts have became the order of the day and the Chief Minister is watching these developments as a mere spectator, they alleged.

Earlier, the group met Congress President Sonia Gandhi to greet her on Diwali. They would be meeting her again in a day or two to resolve the crisis in Manipur, they said.

Meanwhile, a sixteen-member rebel group of Congress MLAs, including two cabinet ministers had a ninety-minute meeting here yesterday with Mr Prithviraj Chauhan - Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office.

During the meeting Mr Chauhan, who is also the AICC in-charge for Manipur affairs, had a separate one-on-one talks with the State Cabinet Ministers besides a prolonged discussion with the group.

At the meet Mr Chauhan assured the delegation that he will convey their views to the Congress President before taking a final decision in the matter.

Initially, the group had proposed two names -- State Congress President Gaikhangam and Mr Devendra Singh- the senior most Congress MLA in the assembly for the top post.

However, the dissident group has now changed their stand and have totally left the selection of Chief Ministerial candidate on the party high command.

The sources accused the chief minister of encouraging corruption in the state claiming that a result even the centrally-sponsored projects were either not being implemented or getting delayed endlessly.

The dissident group, which is currently camping in Delhi, has cautioned the party high command that if its demands were not fulfilled by November 15, it would be forced to take direct agitational measures.

Eds here pick up suitably from earlier series.

UNI