Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on Monday stepped down from his post, reported NDTV. He has staked claim to form the government even as the Bharatiya Janata Party has held that they have the support of the majority of MLAs. Singh’s Congress party got 28 seats, while the BJP got 21 seats in the state Assembly elections. The state Assembly has 60 seats.
While the BJP has the support of the National People’s Party and Naga People’s Front, both part of the National Democratic Alliance, the Congress had submitted a letter of support from the NPP. However, the NPP had dismissed the letter as fake. Governor Najma Heptulla had said that she was satisfied BJP’s claim that they had the support of 32 legislators to form the government.
The Congress has questioned the BJP’s letter of support and pointed out that the list contains a Congress and a Trinamool Congress legislators. “Our party is intact... the TMC member is also with us,” Singh said. He has held that since the Congress is the single largest party in the state, it should be invited first to form the government.
Former Congress leader N Biren Singh has been declared the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate. He had switched camps in October 2016. On Monday, he said he had left the Congress because of “misgovernance”. “Thank Amit Shah ji, [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi ji and senior leaders,” he said. “Left Congress due to misgovernance, sure that BJP will give good governance to Manipur.”
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