New Delhi/Imphal, Feb 3 (IANS) Ending months of uncertainty and prolonged parleys over government formation in Manipur, the BJP on Tuesday announced that former Assembly Speaker Yumnam Khemchand Singh will be the state’s next Chief Minister.

The BJP legislature party, after a meeting in New Delhi, announced that Khemchand Singh has been elected as the party’s Legislature Party Leader and will take over as Chief Minister of Manipur, where President’s Rule has been in force since February 13 last year following the resignation of then Chief Minister N. Biren Singh amid prolonged ethnic violence.

Sources said that Khemchand Singh was elected as the Legislature Party Leader at a meeting in New Delhi attended by BJP MLAs from Manipur, along with the party’s newly appointed Central Observer Tarun Chugh and BJP Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra, among other senior leaders.

Patra, in a post on X, said: “A meeting of the BJP Manipur Legislative Party was held today at the BJP Headquarters in New Delhi with Hon’ble National General Secretary Shri Tarun Chugh ji as the observer, in the presence of Hon’ble State President Smt A Sharda Devi ji. Warm congratulations to Shri Y Khemchand Singh ji on being unanimously elected as the Leader of the BJP Legislative Party by all BJP MLAs of Manipur.”

A meeting of legislators from all constituents of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was to be held on Tuesday night or on Wednesday to formally endorse Khemchand Singh’s name as the NDA Legislature Party Leader, sources said. The National People’s Party (NPP), headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma, and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) are supporting the BJP in Manipur as constituents of the NDA.

A member of the majority Meitei community, Khemchand Singh is a former Rural Development Minister and was elected twice to the Manipur Assembly from the Singjamei constituency in Imphal West district as a BJP candidate in the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections.

In a significant gesture since ethnic violence erupted in Manipur in May 2023, the 61-year-old BJP leader recently visited the tribal-majority hill districts of Ukhrul and Kamjong, marking the first outreach by any Meitei leader to these areas since the conflict began.

After hectic parleys, the BJP on Monday initiated the process to elect a new Chief Minister in Manipur, and the party’s Parliamentary Board appointed national General Secretary Chugh as the Central Observer for the election of the Legislative Party Leader in the state.

Following directions from the central BJP leadership, a large number of MLAs belonging to the BJP and its supporting parties reached New Delhi earlier this week. Former Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, Assembly Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, Khemchand Singh, and state BJP President Adhikarimayum Sharda Devi accompanied the party MLAs in the national capital.

“We are expecting that the issue of government formation will be discussed,” Sharda Devi had told the media before leaving Imphal for New Delhi.

The Union government imposed President’s Rule in Manipur on February 13 last year, four days after Biren Singh resigned as Chief Minister of the state, and it is scheduled to end on February 12 this year.

The 60-member Manipur Assembly, which has a tenure until 2027, has been kept under suspended animation. Following the imposition of President’s Rule, senior BJP central leaders, including national General Secretary, Organisation, B.L. Santhosh and the party’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra, held a series of meetings with Manipur MLAs in both New Delhi and Imphal.

The BJP has 37 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, while its NDA allies — the NPP and the NPF — have six and five MLAs respectively. Three Independent MLAs are also supporting the BJP-led NDA.

On December 14 last year, the Manipur BJP Legislature Party held a meeting at the party headquarters in New Delhi to discuss the peace process and other key issues concerning the violence-hit state. The meeting was attended by more than 34 BJP MLAs, including Biren Singh, Speaker Thokchom Satyabrata Singh, along with Santhosh, Patra and Sharda Devi.

–IANS

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