The elections are over, the results are out, but one battle is still raging in Manipur. Who will be the chief minister? Before going into the elections, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party had not officially nominated incumbent chief minister N Biren Singh as its choice.
Sources inside the party were of the opinion that since there was a faction fight, the central leadership did not reveal a CM face.
Biren ran the state successfully as chief minister over the past five years, but he did come up against rivals inside the party.
Thongam Biswajit Singh is one of the challengers. He actually joined the BJP before Biren Singh. Party insiders say he thought in 2017 that he would be the chief minister, being senior.
But the party’s central leadership chose Biren, and Biswajit was not pleased with this.
He was given some very important portfolios in the government. Sources, however, say Biswajit went to Delhi a few times to speak to the top leadership against Biren.
During the election campaigning, BJP president JP Nadda had said at least twice that Manipur had developed under the able leadership of N Biren Singh. Observers deduced that the party was thinking of letting him keep the job after a poll victory. The BJP won 32 of the 60 assembly seats in Manipur as the election results came out on Thursday.
But, sources say, if either of Biren or Biswajit is made the CM, the other’s supporters may stir up trouble.
Another name, too, has come up. Konthoujam Govindas Singh was previously the state Congress president, who joined the BJP in August 2021. A point in his favour is that he has a background in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Govindas won from the Bishnupur constituency in the recent Manipur polls and also has a good support base.
“In our party, the central leadership decides who will be the chief minister, and whoever they will pick, we will go in accordance with that,” state BJP chief Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi said on Friday.
Biren Singh’s son-in-law Rajkumar Imo Singh, who won the election from the Sagolband constituency, told News18 on March 10 that party workers, as well as people of the state, want his father-in-law to be chief minister again.
Biren resigned from the CM’s post on Friday, as is customary, and the party may make its choice on Saturday.
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