Imphal: Despite the speculation and rumours doing all round, a third contender backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the ideological mentor of BJP, for the Chief Minister’s seat has emerged in Manipur.
Yumnam Khemchand, Speaker in the previous Assembly, would be an option for the BJP to avoid infighting between caretaker Chief Minister N Biren Singh and senior legislator Th Biswajit Singh, the NDTV reported on Sunday quoting sources as saying.
Interestingly, Khemchand was among the three state leaders who were called by the Central leadership for an emergency meeting on Saturday.
BJP, in spite of winning 32 seats, have not been able to form a government in the state yet. The tenure of the current Manipur Legislative Assembly has already ended on March 19, 2022.
It was being speculated that rivalry between Biren and Biswajit was delaying the formation of the government. However, the party has denied it.
Meanwhile, Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju along with caretaker Chief Minister N Biren Singh, senior legislators Th Biswajit and Y Khemchand have arrived here in a special flight on Sunday morning.
The BJP Parliamentary Board on March 14 appointed Union Finance Minister Sitharaman as Central observer and Union Law and Justice Minister Kiren Rijiju as co-observer for the election of the BJP Legislature Party leader in Manipur.
After meeting with the State legislators both the Central observers will depart in the same special flight by 6 pm, sources added. With agency inputs
