IMPHAL, Dec 30 � In a surprise move, the State Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Wednesday withdrew support to Congress and joined the Opposition alliance in an attempt to extract political mileage in the forthcoming polls to the Manipur Assembly scheduled to be held on January 28.
�RJD has joined the alliance of Manipur People�s Party (MPP), NCP and JD(U)�, Manipur State RJD president in-charge K Kumarjit informed reporters at the party�s office here today.
The party will be fielding not less than 45 candidates in the hill and valley districts, Kumarjit said.
He further said they decided to join the opposition bloc and fight the elections as the party cannot see �transparency� in the ruling Congress-led State Government.
Meanwhile, Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi indicated his willingness to forge alliance with other political parties in the State saying Congress likes to join hands with like-minded political groups.
The statement came when the Chief Minister was addressing the 126th foundation day of Indian National Congress at Congress Bhavan here.
He urged the party men to strive for winning at least 40-45 seats in the coming Assembly elections.
He said the first priority of the Congress is to generate employment for the youths, develop road connectivity, power, drinking water, and to increase the GDP of the State.
In another development, the Manipur State Council, CPI has on Wednesday formally announced its first list of candidates, but the party declared no pre-poll alliance for the polls.
CPI State secretary Dr Nara told the media that the second phase of recommended candidate names would be announced before January 3 and said that another five to six candidates would come up in the next phase.
PTI adds: Three political parties on Tuesday had formed a pre-poll alliance for the forthcoming Assembly elections in Manipur.
Opposition leader and senior Manipur People�s Party (MPP) leader O Joy said that they have decided to form a pre-poll alliance with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Janata Dal (United).
JD (U) national president Arun Kumar Srivastava said, the alliance is meant to defeat the Congress.
NCP Manipur unit president Radhabinod Koijam, a former Chief Minister, said, �the people of Manipur are not satisfied with the present government as they couldn�t even solve the blocking of two National Highways for more than 120 days�.
MPP president Nimaichand Luwang said people of Manipur should not be swayed by money power.
