Imphal, March 14 (IANS): Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla on Tuesday said that the BJP has the requisite numbers to form a government in the state. “It is more than 30 in the House of 60 members,” she said during a brief press conference at Raj Bhavan on Tuesday. Heptulla said she has invited the Bharatiya Janata Party to form the government on Wednesday. “BJP led group has been invited tomorrow (Wednesday) to form the government. In Manipur we need development, jobs for the youth,” she said. “Political stability and development of the state are the main concerns. Nobody has accused me of being biased. I know the rules and I go by the book. My 17 years of experience has stood by me in good stead,” she said. The Raj Bhavan has invited Nongthombam Biren to form the government. The oath taking ceremony will take place at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, and not at 10.30 a.m. as stated earlier, Raj Bhavan sources said. S. Bira, a senior Congress MLA, was sworn in as the protem Speaker. Heptulla said, “The new Chief Minister will be asked to prove his majority by March 22 or 23.” BJP president Amit Shah, other national leaders, Assam Chief Minister S. Sonowal, Assam Finance Minister Hemanta Biswa Sarma and others are expected to be present at the swearing in ceremony. Reacting to the political developments, Congress sources said the party is keeping its options open. In the just-concluded elections the Congress party secured 28 seats whereas the BJP could bag 21 seats. But the NPF and NPP with four MLAs each supported it. Besides one MLA each of the AITC, LJP and an independent also supported the BJP. Congress has been in power for three consecutive terms. Sources said that after the Supreme Court ruling on the Goa political developments it is very unlikely that the Congress in Manipur will go to court. Congress leader Okram Ibobi Singh, who resigned as Chief Minister on Monday, also staked his claim to form the government. NPP, NPF to back BJP-led govt in Manipur Imphal/Kohima, March 14 (IANS): The party chiefs of the National People’s Party (NPP) and the Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Tuesday said they will support a non-Congress government in Manipur led by the BJP. NPP supremo Conrad K. Sangma said a non-Congress government would soon be formed in Manipur and his party would support the BJP-led alliance government. Nagaland Chief Minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu said his Naga People’s Front (NPF) party will be supporting the BJP-led coalition government in his neighbouring state of Manipur. “We are waiting only for the invitation from the Governor (Najma Heptulla) to invite us to form the new government,” Sangma told IANS. He said the Naga People’s Front has also handed a letter of support to Heptulla confirming its support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led alliance government in Manipur. The NPF, which won four seats in the just-concluded assembly elections, has also paraded its newly-elected legislators before the Governor, Sangma said. Both NPP and NPF have won four seats each in the Manipur assembly elections. “All the legislators (non-Congress) are intact,” added Sangma, the lone NPP Lok Sabha member. Shurhozelie, who is also the NPF supremo said, said that it “did not put pre-conditions” before joining the BJP-led coalition arrangement in Manipur. The NPF and NPP are major coalition partners of the North East Democratic Alliance formed in May last year in Assam’s main city of Guwahati with the declared aim of ridding the region of the Congress party and to bring all-round development to the northeastern part of the country under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The NPF has been in alliance with the BJP and other non-Congress political parties in Nagaland since 2003 under the banner and nomenclature of Democratic Alliance of Nagaland.
