N Biren Singh has been chosen as the chief minister of Manipur for the second term, the Bharatiya Janata Party announced on Sunday.
The announcement was made by Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman during the party’s legislative meeting in state capital Imphal. Sitharaman and Union minister Kiren Rijiju were sent as the BJP’s observers for the government formation in Manipur.
Sitharaman said that the decision to let Singh continue as the chief minister was taken unanimously. “This decision will go long way in providing a stable government in Manipur,” she added.
Ahead of Sunday’s announcement, the name of former minister Th Biswajit Singh was also reportedly being considered for the top post.
On March 15, Biren Singh and Biswajit Singh, along with the party’s state unit chief A Sharda Devi, were summoned by the party’s central leadership in New Delhi for a meeting, according to The Indian Express. They were summoned again on March 19.
Biswajit is Manipur’s senior most BJP legislator and has been associated with the party longer than Biren Singh.
The BJP won 32 out of 60 seats in the state Assembly election results declared on March 10. The Congress and Naga Peoples Front got five seats each. The newly-formed Kuki People’s Alliance bagged two seats.
Singh had won from the Heingang constituency by a huge margin of 18,271 votes. With 24,814 votes, he had defeated Congress candidate P Saratchandra Singh, who managed to secure only 6,543 votes.
The BJP’s performance in Manipur was better than the 2017 elections, in which it had won only 21 seats.
Also read: Party politics alone may not explain the BJP’s victory in Manipur
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