N Biren Singh sworn in as Manipur CM

Nongthombam Biren Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Manipur in Imphal today. Although Congress had emerged as the single largest party in the 60-member Manipur Assembly with 28 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs), BJP has garnered the support of four MLAs each from Naga People’s Front (NPF) and the National People’s Party (NPP), one from Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and three others, adding to its tally of 21 MLAs. With the backing of additional 12 MLAs, BJP has the requisite numbers to form the government in the state.

A former journalist and MLA from Heingang constituency, Singh left Congress in October, 2016 to join BJP. “I left Congress because of misgovernance. I assure the people that our team will bring good governance to the people of Manipur,” he said after meeting Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla.

Apart from Singh, Y Joykumar Singh of the NPP took oath as deputy chief minister. An additional seven ministers were also sworn in.

The ceremony was attended by Leishemba Sanajaoba, the titular king of Manipur, Minister for Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar, BJP’s national general secretary Ram Madhav and former Congress CM of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh, among others.