Governor invites BJP to form ‘stable’ Manipur government

IMPHAL: After three days of political drama, Manipur governor Najma Heptullah on Tuesday invited BJP legislature party leader Nongthombam Biren Singh to form a coalition government . “I weighed and measured the stability factor before making the decision,” she said.
Biren, who had staked claim on Monday, will be sworn in along with other ministers on Wednesday. With this, the footballer-turnedjournalist-turned-politician will end the 15-year rule of his mentor, outgoing Congress CM Okram Ibobi Singh.
BJP, which won 21 seats, claimed majority by showing that 32 MLAs were with it in the 60-member assembly though Congress emerged as the single largest party with 28 MLAs.
Besides 21 BJP MLAs, National People’s Party and Naga People’s Front with four MLAs each, Lok Janshakti Party and TMC with one MLA each and an Independent will be part of the coalition government .
Union home minister Rajnath Singh, BJP chief Amit Shah and the two BJP CMs from northeast — Sarbananda Sonowal and Pema Khandu — and Sikkim Democratic Front CM Pawan Kumar Chamling are expected to attend the swearing-in.
However, BJP claimed to have the numbers to arrive at the magic figure of 31.
A similar situation in Goa had led the Congress high command to cry foul over the process in both states. “I want the new CM to prove his majority as soon as possible; say, by 22nd or 23rd,” the governor said.
Answering Congress’s charges, Heptullah said, “In my 37 years in Parliament and 17 years in chair, I have worked with different non-Congress parties and different PMs when I was with Congress. No one ever complained that I was biased.”
Meantime, Congress remains confident of being able to beat BJP on the floor.
Okram Ibobi Singh held a closed-door meeting on Tuesday with all newly-elected Congress MLAs at the residence of Congress legislator N Loken Singh here.
Unfazed by these claims, CM-elect Biren, along with Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and Piyush Goyal, met the governor on Tuesday evening and submitted the list of ministers to be sworn in on Wednesday.