Leitanthem Basanta’s father, Leitanthem Tomba had kept the Congress at bay in Thoubal — first as the MLA of the Manipur People’s Party in 1995 and then from the Federal Party of Manipur in 2002 — until he met more than his match in former Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in 2007.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from the Thoubal Assembly constituency this time, Mr. Basanta’s mission is more than just “avenging” his father’s defeat. He hopes to be the giant-killer by getting the better of Mr. Singh in, arguably, the strongest Congress bastion in the State and to set the ball rolling for a “Congress-free Manipur”.
However, this is not the first time Mr. Basanta is contesting the Thoubal seat against the ex-CM. He had lost the seat by a margin of 10,452 votes in 2017.
