Manipur LIVE | BJP likely to decide on Biren's successor at Feb 12 meet
Biren Singh's resignation as Manipur CM came after meeting with party bosses amid threat of no-confidence motion and growing discontent among state BJP leaders
Twenty-one months after a deadly ethnic strife broke out in Manipur, N Biren Singh resigned as the Chief Minister of the state. Singh tendered his resignation to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan on Sunday (February 9).
The BJP high command has called for a crucial meeting on February 12 to take a final call on the next Chief Minister of Manipur. All BJP MLAs of Manipur have been called to New Delhi to attend the meeting on February 12, sources said. Ten Kuki MLAs may also attend the meeting . However, there is no confirmation in this regard yet.
Biren Singh's resignation came hours after his return from Delhi. He had left for the national capital in a chartered flight to meet the top BJP leadership on Saturday evening after convening a meeting with BJP-led ruling alliance MLAs at the CM Secretariat in connection with the assembly session beginning on February 10.
Also read: SC seeks forensic report on audio tapes linking Manipur CM to violence
Singh’s persistence as the Manipur CM and Amit Shah’s inexplicable support for him had raised eyebrows for months as the Manipur crisis raged.
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- 9 Feb 2025 3:29 PM GMT
'Biren Singh instigated division in Manipur, Modi allowed him to continue': Rahul
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Biren Singh was forced to resign due to mounting public pressure, the Supreme Court's (SC) intervention and his party's plan to move a no-confidence motion in the assembly.
"For nearly two years, the BJP's Chief Minister Biren Singh instigated division in Manipur. Prime Minister Modi allowed him to continue despite the violence, loss of life, and the destruction of the idea of India in Manipur," the opposition leader in the Lok Sabha said in a post on X.
"The resignation of Chief Minister Biren Singh shows that mounting public pressure, the SC investigation and the no-confidence motion by the Congress have forced a reckoning," Gandhi added.
He, however, said the most urgent priority was to restore peace in the state and work to heal the wounds of the people.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi must visit Manipur at once, listen to the people and finally explain his plan to bring back normalcy," he said.
- 9 Feb 2025 3:27 PM GMT
Shutting stable door after horse bolted: Cong jibe at BJP
The Congress on Sunday described N Biren Singh's resignation from the post of Manipur chief minister as "belated", and said "our frequent-flier" Prime Minister Narendra Modi must visit the state immediately and share with the people his plans to restore normalcy.
The opposition party's attack came shortly after Singh tendered his resignation to Governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla at the Raj Bhavan in Imphal.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge described Singh's resignation as "shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted".
He also blamed Modi as the real culprit of "disdain and apathy" towards the strife-torn state.
"It is painful to say that for 21 months, the BJP ignited a fire in Manipur and left the people across communities to fend for themselves," Kharge said in a post on X.
"Their rank incompetence and utter disregard for Rajdharma resulted in at least 258 people having died, more than 5,600 arms and 6.5 lakh rounds of ammunition were looted from police armouries, more than 60,000 people displaced and thousands still forced to live in relief camps," he added.
Further slamming the prime minister, Kharge said Modi had forgotten that Manipur was a part of India. "It is high time he rejigs his memory and locate the state of Manipur on the map of India!" "Modi ji has not stepped on Manipur's soil since his last election campaign in January 2022, although he had time to visit several foreign countries in between. Now that the chief minister has belatedly resigned, we hope and urge him to visit Manipur and hear the stories of horror from the people," the Congress chief added.
He expressed relief that better sense prevailed and that this was not a "2023-like-resignation-drama", referring to Singh's earlier offer to resign if it helped solve the conflict and bring normalcy.
