Manipur: Parliamentary Board to decide on appointment of CM

Our Correspondent

Imphal, March 17 (EMN): Former chief minister N Biren Singh on Thursday informed that the parliamentary board will decide on the matter of the appointment of the next chief minister.

He was speaking to reporters after returning from Delhi to attend a party meeting along with senior BJP MLA Thongam Biswajit Singh and BJP Manipur president Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi at Bir Tikendrajit International airport at the outskirts of Imphal.

Singh informed that they had attended a review meeting of the recently held assembly elections chaired by JP Nadda, national president of BJP.

“The parliamentary board meeting was also held separately but we were not part of it”, he added and urged to welcome the decision.

Meanwhile, Devi told reporters that there is no official report of appointment of the chief minister in the state. She said observers for the election of the legislature leader would be arriving after Holi to take up necessary formalities.

On the other hand, senior BJP MLA Biswajit informed that the meeting in Delhi on Tuesday was held in connection with the party’s victory in the recently concluded assembly elections and further steps for the upcoming elections.

Responding to a question on why the BJP is taking time to elect its legislature leader, he said it is not only for Manipur, but for other states like Goa, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh too.

On Monday, Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju were appointed as observers for Manipur for the election of the legislature leader in the state.

In the recently concluded elections, the BJP got absolute majority by clinching 32 seats out of 60, while National People’s Party (NPP), a coalition partner of the BJP in the previous government, became the second largest party with seven seats.

The opposition Congress and Naga People’s Front (NPF) secured five seats each, while Janata Dal (U) secured six and newly floated Kuki People’s Alliance won two seats.