The battle lines for next month’s assembly elections in Manipur has been drawn, with the ruling Congress party eyeing a political hat trick and the regional Manipur People’s Party (MPP) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) trying to stop the juggernaut. Elections to the 60-member assembly are scheduled on Jan.28. “We are ready to face the elections and confident of making it for the third straight term,” Food and Civil Supplies Minister N. Biren Singh said. The MPP and the NCP are expected to have a pre-poll alliance. “We are soon going to have a formal alliance with the NCP and confident of ousting the Congress from power,” MPP president Nimaichand Luwang said.Meanwhile, the president of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Manipur unit, Shantikumar Sharma, has accused the ruling party of being unable to tackle the problems arising in the state, and said that Congress party will be wiped out in the upcoming polls.“The government has failed in all fronts and there was nothing but turmoil in Manipur during the last two terms of the Congress government. We are surely going to make a big difference in the polls,” Sharma said.