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Manipur CM inducts 5 new ministers, drops 6 in cabinet reshuffle
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh descried the reshuffle as “a routine matter as desired by national leaders to focus on development activities.”
Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh on Thursday reshuffled his cabinet by inducting five ministers and dropping six.
The newly inducted ministers include BJP MLAs S Rajen (Lamsang),Vungzagin Valte(Thanlon),Th Satyabarta (Yaiskul) and two ex-MLAs O Lukhoi (Wangoi) and Okram Henry (Wangkhei). Lukhoi and Henry were Congress MLAs who had resigned and joined BJP.
The swearing in ceremony of the five ministers in the three-year-old BJP government was held at around 5 pm at the banquet hall of Raj Bhavan in Imphal as per existing Standard Operating Procedure in light of the Covid-9 pandemic. The oath of office was administered by the Governor Dr Najma Heptulla.
Chief minister N Biren Singh, BJP national Vice-president Baijayant Panda, BJP North East general secretary Ajay Jamwal, Deputy Speaker K Robindro, MLA H Dingo,ex-MLA P Brojen were present during the swearing-in ceremony.
“It is a routine matter as desired by national leaders to focus on development activities,” the CM said on the induction of new ministers.
Earlier in the day, Governor Heptulla had accepted the CM’s proposal on dropping three cabinet ministers.
The proposal from the CM came a day after he returned with BJP’s senior national Vice President Panda from New Delhi in a chartered flight on Tuesday.
The three ministers are V Hangkhalian (Agriculture and Animal Husbandry), Nemcha Kipgen (Social Welfare and Cooperation) and Th Radheshyam (Education, Labour and Employment).
Later, three more ministers L Jayantakumar (Health & Family welfare),K Shyam(Consumers Affairs Food & Public Distribution) and N Kayisii( Tribal Affairs & Fisheries) were also dropped from the ministry. While Jayantakumar and Kayisii are from the National Peoples’ Party (NPP), Shyam belongs to Lok Janshakti Party (LJP)
The BJP’s Manipur unit president S Tikendra Singh who is still in the national capital after meeting party’s national president JP Nadda for the upcoming bye-elections, said the reshuffle was part of the party’s policy.
The BJP came to power in Manipur in March 2017 with support of four MLAs each from NPP and NPF besides one MLA each from TMC, Lok Janshakti Party and an Independent in the 60- member House.
