Ramesh Chennithala, Congress’s north-east Observer and chairman of the screening committee for the just-concluded assembly elections in Manipur, said that all democratic practices were subverted in the state by the BJP to form the government there. Chennithala, also the Opposition leader in Kerala, alleged that the fate of independent MLA in Manipur, Ashad Uddin, who went missing after the elections, is still unknown (The MLA in question has reportedly joined the government as parliamentary secretary). Rejecting the call for Rahul Gandhi’s resignation by a youth Congress leader in Kerala, Chennithala said there is an organized campaign against Rahul Gandhi.