Newly appointed Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh, 57, said that he was going to take a relook at all the wrong policies of the previous Congress government led by Ibobi Singh.
Said Biren Singh to THE WEEK, “Our government’s main focus will be economic development and infrastructural growth of Manipur.” Singh said that the BJP government in the state would initiate the process to lift the four-month-long blockade in the state by extremist groups.
On March 15, the governor of Manipur, Najma Heptulla, gave the oath of office to Singh, a former Congress minister who joined the BJP last year. Eight other cabinet ministers took oath along with Singh. Heptulla asked the BJP government to prove majority in the assembly as soon as possible. Singh said to THE WEEK that he was confident of proving majority.
In the assembly elections in the state, the BJP won 21 seats and has the support of four MLAs of the Naga People’s Front, four of the National People’s Party and one of the Lok Janshakti Party.
Singh, who had served in the Border Security Force for a brief period, was one of Manipur’s first footballers to play for the national team. He later started a newspaper and was arrested in 2000 for publishing material supporting extremists. In 2002, he joined the Congress and became an MLA. Singh has administrative experience as he, as a minister in previous Congress governments in Manipur, had handled ministries like vigilance, irrigation and sports.
