N Biren Singh to be the first saffron CM in Manipur, Ibobi to resign tomorrow

After elected leader of BJP Legislature Party, N Biren Singh will be the first saffron Chief Minister in Manipur.

The senior BJP MLA was unanimously elected the leader of legislature party during a meeting held in Imphal in presence of two Union minister’s Prakash Javadekar, Pijyush Goyal, its national leader Ram Madhav, Prahlad Patel, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convenor and Assam finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.

“N Biren has been unanimously elected leader of the BJP Legislature Party. He is the party’s chief ministerial candidate,” Union minister Piyush Goel said.

“N Biren Singh will meet governor Najma Heptullah and stake claim to form the next ministry in Manipur,” Goyal said.

A former minister of Okram Ibobi Singh-led Congress government and a national level footballer turned journalist turned politician in the north eastern Indian state, N Biren Singh was first elected to the Manipur assembly in 2002 from Heingang constituency as the Democratic Revolutionary Peoples Party (DRPP) candidate.

Later he joined Congress and in May 2003 was appointed Minister of State of Vigilance in the Ibobi Singh-led government.

In 2007 assembly poll, N Biren Singh again retained his assembly seat and appointed as the Minister of Irrigation & Flood Control and Youth Affairs & Sports in the Ibobi Singh-led second term state government.

In 2012, N Biren Singh elected to the Manipur assembly for consecutive third term.

“I thank the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the entire BJP leadership for giving me an opportunity to serve Manipur,” N Biren Singh said.

“Our team under leadership of PM will provide good governance and to involve all rounds of development in Manipur,” the BJP’s Chief Ministerial candidate said.

On the other hand, Chief Minister Ibobi Singh said that, he will submit his resignation letter on Tuesday.

On Sunday night, Manipur governor Najma Hetullah asked incumbent Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh of Congress to submit his resignation immediately.

The governor asked Ibobi to submit his resignation as starting the process of the next government formation.

Meanwhile, five more Congress MLAs and the lone independent MLA have camped at a hotel in Guwahati.

Sources said that, the MLAs of Manipur reached at the five-star hotel in Guwahati on Sunday night.

Meanwhile, BJP has started the process of formation the next government after the saffron party has its own 21 MLAs and secured support of 11 others including 4 MLAs each of Naga People's Front (NPF), NPP and one legislator of LJP.

Assam finance minister and NEDA convenor Himanta Biswa Sarma said that, a Congress MLA and the lone MLA of AITC had joined BJP taking the party number to 32.

On Sunday night, the political drama in Manipur added a new twist after Thounaojam Shyamkumar Singh, one of the 28 Congress legislators, who won from the Adro constituency and the lone AITC MLA Tongbram Robindro joined the BJP.

Sources said that, apart from Shyamkumar, 19 others Congress MLAs would likely to join BJP within short period.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)