All 6 Manipur Ministers are 'Crorepatis': Association for Democratic Reforms

IMPHAL: Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh and five other ministers, who took oath on Monday, are 'crorepatis' (millionaires), a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said on Tuesday.

Singh was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Manipur for the second consecutive term on Monday, 12 days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured a thin majority in the February-March Assembly elections, results of which were declared on March 10.

Manipur Governor La Ganesan during a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan here, administered the oath of office to Singh and five other ministers -- Thongam Biswajit Singh, Yumnam Khemchand Singh, Govindas Konthoujam, Nemcha Kipgen -- all from BJP, and Awangbow Newmai of Naga People's Front. Former minister Nemcha Kipgen is the only woman minister in Biren Singh council of ministry.

The ADR report said that they have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of the Chief Minister all five ministers and found that their average assets is Rs 4.04 crore. It said that the minister with the highest declared total assets is Konthoujam Govindas Singh, who was the former Manipur state Congress President and joined the BJP last year, with assets worth Rs 8.32 crore while Biren Singh has lowest assets with assets worth Rs 1.47 crore.

The Chief Minister and the other five ministers have declared liabilities out of which the minister with the highest liabilities is Yumnam Khemchand Singh with Rs 59 lakhs of liabilities. Khemchand Singh was the former Speaker of the Manipur Assembly. One minister has declared his educational qualification of 10th standard while 4 (67 per cent) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above and another is a diploma holder.

Chief Minister Singh and five other ministers have declared in their affidavits that they have no criminal cases against themselves. Biren Singh council of ministry would likely be expanded later as the berths of six ministers are vacant. The Chief Minister said that he would "soon" expand his ministry. IANS

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