Manipur CM N Biren Singh predicts 40 seats for BJP

IMPHAL: Manipur Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Nongthombam Biren Singh, 61, is confident of retaining power by securing at least 40 seats in the 60-member Assembly and said that his Government would propose to the Centre to withdraw the contentious Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958 (AFSPA) when a conducive situation arises in the State.

A former footballer and editor of a vernacular newspaper, Singh, who has led the first BJP-led coalition Government in Manipur since 2017, said that national security and the situation in the neighbouring coup-hit Myanmar would be given top priority before withdrawing the AFSPA, which turned into a top political issue in the entire Northeastern region after the killing of 14 people in neighbouring Nagaland by the security forces in December last year.

A Congress-turned-BJP leader, Singh has been in the active politics for more than two decades. He was first elected to the Manipur assembly in 2002 and this time too, would contest from his traditional Heingang seat.

Singh said that the BJP would secure two-thirds majority as the Government has done a lot of good work and development, besides improving the law-and-order situation in the State. (IANS)

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