Manipur CM drops 3 ministers from cabinet hinting at reshuffle ahead of state by-polls

In a major development, Manipur CM N Biren Singh, on Thursday, dropped three BJP ministers from the council of ministers amid reshuffle speculations. The three cabinet members dropped are minister for agriculture and animal husbandry, V Hangkhalian (BJP), minister for social welfare and cooperation, Nemcha Kipgen, and minister for education, labour and employment, Radheshyam Singh. The changes have been accepted by Governor Dr. Najma Heptulla.

Congress exodus in Manipur continues; 5 ex-MLAs who recently quit the party join BJP

Biren drops three ministers

Notably, the CM and state BJP chief S Tikendra Singh had recently visited Delhi, where they met several central leaders, including the party's national president J P Nadda where cabinet reshuffle was discussed ahead of by-polls to be held in the state. Five seats recently fell vacant in the 60-member House in Manipur following resignation and disqualification of MLAs, reducing the strength to 47 seats. The CM recently survived a trust vote after several Congress MLAs jumped ship to the BJP.

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Manipur govt wins confidence vote

On August 10, the N Biren Singh-led government in Manipur won the motion of confidence by voice vote when 8 out of 24 Congress MLAs stayed away from the Assembly proceedings.  After this, 6 of the 8 Congress MLAs -  Okram Henry Singh,  Oinam Lukhoi, Md Abdul Nasir, Paonam Brojen, Ngamthang Haokip, and Ginsuanhau Zou resigned from the Legislative Assembly and also quit the party on the next day. Soon after, five of them excluding Md Abdul Nasir - joined the BJP.

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Manipur govt crisis

On June 17,  BJP MLAs S Subhash Chandra Singh, TT Haokip and Samuel Jendai, TMC MLA T Robindro Singh resigned, while 4 NPP MLAs and Independent MLA Ashab Uddin withdrew support from the Biren Singh government, extending support to Congress. With the intervention of  NEDA convenor and Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, NPP chief and Meghalaya CM Conrad Sangma met with former BJP chief Amit Shah and renewed its support to the BJP. Later it won the high-stakes lone Rajya Sabha seat and then the trust vote in the Assembly. The CM then reallocated portfolios to his NPP Deputy CM which had led to the acrimony. Currently, BJP has 30 MLAs in the 47 member-strong House.

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