Manipur CM Biren Singh to retain post, ends speculation

Biren Singh, who was in the national capital, met Union home minister Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda, said party functionaries aware of the developments.

Ending speculation that there could be a change in the leadership in Manipur; the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership on Thursday indicated that Biren Singh will continue to hold the post of chief minister.

Ending speculation that there could be a change in the leadership in Manipur; the Bharatiya Janata Party central leadership on Thursday indicated that Biren Singh will continue to hold the post of chief minister. (PTI)

Singh, who was in the national capital, met Union home minister Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda, said party functionaries aware of the developments.

“There was speculation about dissent in the state assembly with some MLAs grouping against the CM. However, it turned out that only five MLA were dissenting and three more were with them. The minimum support required is of 30 MLAs, so it was clear that there was no threat to the Biren Singh government,” said a party functionary not wishing to be quoted. State party leader Biswajit Singh and a few other leaders had come to the capital a few days ago, and held meetings with Union power minister RK Singh.

Differences between both the leaders came to a head after the Lok Sabha elections, when a few MLAs who were expecting a berth in the state cabinet felt they would not be accommodated and began to push for a change in the leadership, said another state-level party functionary.

On whether there is a possibility of Biswajit Singh being given the position of deputy CM; the first functionary quoted above said, there is no decision on the issue yet.