Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh resigns
GUWAHATI, FEB 9 : Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh tendered his resignation to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla on Sunday, shortly after returning from New Delhi, where he had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Singh’s resignation comes amid growing dissent within the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur, with several legislators demanding a change in leadership. The situation escalated after only 20 of the 46 ruling NDA MLAs attended a key meeting on Saturday evening, raising questions about Singh’s support within the party.
Accompanied by BJP’s Northeast in-charge, Sambit Patra, and several state ministers, Singh submitted his resignation at the Raj Bhavan. In his letter, he expressed gratitude for the Centre’s support during his tenure.
“It has been an honour to serve the people of Manipur thus far. I am extremely grateful to the Central government for timely actions, interventions, developmental work and implementation of various projects for safeguarding the interest of every single Manipuri,” he wrote.
Singh also urged the Centre to continue efforts to protect Manipur’s territorial integrity, address border infiltration, deport illegal immigrants, and combat narco-terrorism.
“My sincere request to the Central government through your good office is to continue with the same,” he stated. “I take the opportunity to enumerate the most important ones of them: To maintain the territorial integrity of Manipur, which has a rich and diverse civilisational history over thousands of years, to crack down on border infiltration and to formulate policy for the deportation of illegal immigrants, to continue the fight against drugs and narco-terrorism, to continue the stringent and fool-proof revised mechanism of FMR (free movement regime) with biometrics being stringently applied and time-bound and faster border security, which is underway. Kindly accept my resignation and oblige.”
The timing of Singh’s resignation is significant, as the state Assembly’s Budget session is set to begin on Monday. His departure also follows the Congress party’s recent announcement of a no-confidence motion against his government.
With only five MLAs in the Assembly, Congress was banking on support from BJP rebels to reach the minimum 10-member requirement for the motion to be considered.
BJP sources suggested that Singh’s resignation was a strategic move to prevent the opposition from gaining momentum. Observers noted that dissatisfaction within the BJP stemmed largely from Singh’s handling of the ethnic conflict between the Meiteis and Kukis, which resulted in over 250 deaths and displaced around 60,000 people.
Singh had left for Delhi on Saturday evening in a chartered flight after meeting with NDA MLAs. Though BJP sources claimed the meeting was to discuss the upcoming Budget session, political analysts believe Singh was assessing his support within the party before making his decision.
His resignation marks a significant political shift in Manipur, with the BJP now tasked with choosing his successor.
-PTI
