GUWAHATI: N Biren Singh will continue as the chief minister of Manipur. With this, the week-long suspense on who will occupy the hot seat ended. Singh's name as the CM was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman after a closed-door meeting with all BJP MLAs of the state.
Sitharaman and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju were sent to the state as the BJP’s central observer and co-observer respectively.
Sitahraman told journalists that it was a unanimous decision. She hoped the decision would go a long way in Manipur’s stability and good governance. She was also optimistic that there would be a very good government.
Singh and senior leader Thongam Biswajit were the frontrunners for the post. The duo arrived in the state earlier in the day from Delhi along with the two observers and others.
Their names were doing the rounds for the past one week. They visited Delhi twice on being summoned by the party’s central leadership and held discussions with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president JP Nadda and party stalwart BL Santhosh.
The BJP had a stunning performance under Singh, winning 32 of the 60 seats in the Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on March 10.