The process for the formation of a new government in Manipur gathered pace on Tuesday following a meeting between senior state BJP leaders and the party leadership in Delhi.
BJP state unit president A. Sharda Devi, caretaker chief minister N. Biren Singh and former minister Th Biswajit flew to Delhi in a chartered flight on Tuesday morning after being summoned by the leadership for discussion on issues related to the formation of the new government, including election of the legislative party leader.
The term of the present government ends on March 19.
The BJP had won 32 of the 60 seats in the recently-concluded two-phase Assembly elections, the results of which were declared on Thursday. All the newly-elected MLAs also took oath on Monday.
BJP sources said the state leaders will be meeting party president J.P. Nadda, general secretary (organisation) B.L. Santhosh and home minister Amit Shah but details of what transpired was not revealed.
The trio flew to Delhi a day after the BJP parliamentary board appointed Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union law minister Kiren Rijiju as observer and co-observer for the election of the legislative party leader in Manipur.
Sitharaman and Rijiju are expected to reach Imphal on Wednesday and meet the newly-elected MLAs before the announcement of the legislature party leader is announced, party insiders said.
Though Biren Singh remains the front runner for a second straight term as the chief minister, the BJP leadership is holding discussions and gathering feedback before taking a call on the issue.
On Monday, Biren Singh had hosted a party for the newly-elected party MLAs at his residence. This was attended by 26 MLAs, a source close to the chief minister said.
A state BJP leader said the name of the chief minister will be announced before March 19 and they were a united house.
The Naga People’s Front (NPF), which won five seats, and Janata Dal (United) with six MLAs, and two Independents have already extended their support to the BJP to form the government.
The Congress finished with five seats, the Kuki People’s Alliance two and the National People’s Party (NPP) seven in the 60-member House.