Imphal, Feb 4: BJP leader Y Khemchand Singh was sworn in as the chief minister of Manipur on Wednesday.
Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 62-year-old legislator.
BJP MLA Nemcha Kipgen, who belongs to the Kuki community, and Naga People’s Front legislator L Dikho took oath as the deputy chief ministers of Manipur.
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BJP’s Govindas Konthoujam and K Loken Singh of NPP were also sworn in as ministers. Kipgen took oath virtually from Manipur Bhavan in New Delhi.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at Lok Bhavan here, hours after the President’s rule in the state was revoked.
Restive Manipur had been under the President’s rule since February last year.
The ceremony was attended by several BJP legislators, senior party functionaries, and top leaders of the NDA in the state.
Manipur has been witnessing ethnic violence since May 3, 2023, after a tribal solidarity march was taken out in the hill districts, in protest against the majority Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Since then, at least 260 people, including members of both the Kuki and Meitei communities as well as security personnel, have been killed in the violence, while thousands become homeless.
Notably, the BJP legislature party of Manipur had on Tuesday elected Y Khemchand Singh as its leader at a meeting held at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
The meeting was attended by 35 of the 37 BJP MLAs, besides the party’s central observer Tarun Chugh, its northeast in-charge Sambit Patra, and BJP state president A Sharda Devi, among others.
Subsequently, another meeting was held at the Manipur Bhavan in the national capital, where MLAs of NDA constituents in Manipur — six of the National People’s Party (NPP), five of the Naga People’s Front (NPF) and three Independents — and BJP legislators were in attendance.
Biren Singh had relinquished the post on February 9 last year amid rumblings within the state BJP seeking a change of leadership in strife-torn Manipur.
The opposition was also demanding his resignation for allegedly failing to bring the situation under control.
In August 2023, Biren Singh alleged that certain misunderstandings, actions of vested interests and foreign conspiracies to destabilise Manipur led to the violence.
Intermittent violence continued during the following months, and pressure mounted on Biren Singh from inside the ruling BJP and outside.
The Kuki-Zo leaders also demanded a separate administrative unit for the community.
On January 3, 2025, former Union home secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was sworn in as the governor of the state.
Biren Singh left for Delhi on five days later and held a meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The CM returned to Imphal on February 9 and tendered his resignation to Bhalla.
Presidents’ Rule was imposed in the state on February 13, as the BJP could not find a consensus Chief Ministerial candidate.
During the President’s Rule, the state witnessed a decline in gun-firing incidents between the two warring groups. Security forces launched widespread operations in the hills and valley districts of the state against armed miscreants and militants, leading to the arrest of over 1000 of them and recovering more than 3000 arms.
Currently, there are 37 BJP MLAs in Manipur. Originally, a total of 32 BJP MLAs had won the 2022 assembly elections.
The JD(U) had won six seats, and five of its MLAs later defected to the BJP, taking the strength of the saffron party to 37.
Among the other MLAs, six are from the National People’s Party (NPP), five from the Naga People’s Front, five from the Congress, two from the Kuki People’s Alliance (KPA) , one from Janata Dal (United) and three Independents. There is one vacant seat following the death of a sitting MLA. (PTI)
