GUWAHATI: With the suspense over who will become Manipur’s next chief minister intensifying, caretaker CM N Biren Singh and former minister Thongam Biswajit rushed to New Delhi on Saturday after being summoned by the BJP central leadership. Party sources said they went in separate flights from Imphal.
This is the second time in five days that the BJP leadership has summoned the duo to Delhi. During the earlier visit on Tuesday, Manipur BJP chief A Sharda Devi had accompanied the duo. They had then travelled by a chartered flight and returned to Imphal two days later.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, who have been appointed as the BJP’s observer and co-observer respectively for Manipur, are likely to arrive in the state on Sunday.
These two will meet all BJP MLAs and share their feedback with the party’s central leadership. The name of the chief minister is expected to be announced after that. The visit of the two Union ministers has been delayed due to Holi – Yaoshang in Manipur. It is celebrated for five days in the state.
Upon his arrival in Imphal from New Delhi on Thursday, Biswajit — the state’s senior-most BJP MLA in terms of association — had stated that a colourful day would be coming to Manipur along with the colourful festival. Going by what has been happening, it seems as if the chief minister is going to be either Biren Singh or Biswajit.