IMPHAL/DEHRADUN/PANAJI, Mar 20:
N Biren Singh will be the Manipur Chief Minister for a second straight term after he was unanimously elected the leader of the BJP legislature party today, while the newly elected party MLAs will choose their leaders tomorrow, in Uttarakhand and Goa where incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda in New Delhi to fine-tune the ongoing exercise for Government formation in the four States where the BJP posted resounding victories.
Ten days after the BJP retained power and several rounds of consultations later, the veil of suspense lifted in Manipur when Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the election of Biren Singh as the leader of the legislature party.
Senior MLA Th Biswajit Singh, who was also a contender for the post, could not make the cut as the scales tilted heavily in favour of Biren Singh, who powered the saffron party to an emphatic win with 32 seats in the 60-member assembly and support of six MLAs of the JD(U) and five of the Naga People’s Front.
The newly elected BJP MLAs of Uttarakhand will meet in Dehradun on Monday to choose their leader who will be the next Chief Minister of the hill state where the party has stormed back to power for an unprecedented second successive term.
The decision to convene a meeting of the MLAs on Monday was taken after Dhami, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Trivendra Singh Rawat (both former CMs), among others, met the party’s central leadership at Shah’s New Delhhi residence.
State party chief Madan Kaushik said besides Shah, J P Nadda and general secretary (organisation) BL Santhosh were also present.
Kaushik said the BJP legislative party will meet Monday evening after the MLAs have taken the oath as members of the State Assembly.
The party has deputed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as the observer for Government formation in the State.
The BJP, despite its resounding win, has been in a bit of quandary over the new Chief Minister as Dhami, who spearheaded its successful campaign, lost his Khatami seat.
Dhami continues to be the frontrunner for the Chief Minister’s post despite his defeat but other probable names for the top job doing the rounds include those of Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni.
Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt and former Chief Minister and Union Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are also being talked about as probable candidates for the top job.
The BJP clinched 47 seats in the 70-member Assembly, a two-thirds majority.
The suspense over who will be the next Chief Minister of Goa will also end on Monday when the BJP lawmakers will go into a huddle to elect their leader before calling on the Governor to stake claim to form the Government.
“BJP president J P Nadda has informed that the legislature party meeting would be held on Monday after which party leaders will meet Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and stake a claim to form the next Government,” Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade told a press conference in Panaji.
Like in Uttarakhand, caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is the frontrunner for the top position but senior party colleague and a member of the outgoing Cabinet Vishwajit Rane is also learnt to have thrown his hat into the ring.
Both Sawant and Rane had met Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday evening in the presence of Nadda and Santhosh.
The BJP has 20 MLAs in the 40-member assembly, just one short of a simple majority. It, however, enjoys the backing of three Independents and two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Tanawade said the date of swearing-in of the new Government will be decided after meeting the Governor on Monday.
“It is a good decision taken unanimously, which will ensure that Manipur has a stable and responsible Government. The Centre, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gives special attention to the northeastern states,” Nirmala Sitharaman said after Biren Singh’s election.
Sitharaman and Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju, who is the co-observer, arrived in Imphal earlier today to attend the meeting of the newly elected BJP MLAs.
The BJP returned to power in Manipur by winning 32 seats in the 60-member House in the recent assembly elections.
In the 2017 polls, although the BJP had won only 21 seats, it managed to lure MLAs from the Congress, which clinched 28 seats, and Biren Singh was sworn in as the first-ever BJP Chief Minister of Manipur.
The legislature party’s meeting and announcement follows 10 days of uncertainty since the results were announced with rival leaders Biren Singh and senior BJP MLA Th Biswajit Singh rushing to Delhi twice to meet central leaders in what was seen as part of a hectic lobbying exercise by rival camps, despite denial of differences. (PTI)
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