Imphal, Dec. 19: With the Manipur Assembly elections drawing near, things do not look too good for Okram Ibobi Singh.

The chief minister is feeling the heat over the issue of granting Jiribam sub-division the status of a revenue district. Coupled with this is the demand for 10 per cent reservation in jobs and admission for other backward classes.

After bringing the survey work for extension of the railway line from Jiribam to Tupul in Tamenglong district to a stop, the Jiribam District Demand Committee has threatened to target the property of Thoudm Devendra Singh, local MLA and food and civil supplies minister in the Ibobi Singh government.

The committee had set yesterday as the deadline for upgrading the sub-division into a revenue district. As the government “failed” to give a positive response, the committee stopped survey work from today. A spokesman for the committee said protesters burnt effigies of Devendra Singh at Jiribam last evening. He warned that if the government failed to take any positive action in the next few days, they would target the minister’s “private property” too.

However, the Ibobi Singh government is unlikely to take any action before the forthcoming state Assembly elections. The date for the elections is likely to be announced in the next few days. The Election Commission had earlier hinted that the election would be held in February.

The All-Manipur Muslim Students Organisation, on the other hand, has threatened to launch an agitation from December 25 if the state government fails to announce 10 per cent reservation for OBCs and minority Muslims as promised earlier. The students said they would not allow election campaigns and threatened to close down government offices and call general strikes if their demands were not met by Christmas eve.

“We have been demanding reservation in jobs and admissions for the Muslim minorities since 2002. The government has given us repeated assurances. It even constituted a Minorities’ Commission to look into the matter. But we feel the government has put the issue on the back-burner,” president of the organisation Md Hanif Shah said.