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| Okram Ibobi Singh |
Imphal, March 12: Okram Ibobi Singh is likely to take the oath of office on Wednesday as the chief minister for the third consecutive time.
The Ibobi Singh cabinet this afternoon dissolved the ministry and he tendered his resignation to governor Gurbachan Jagat after the cabinet meeting was over.
A source close to Ibobi Singh told The Telegraph that the governor appointed Laishram Nandakumar Singh, a re-elected Congress member as the protem Speaker and the governor would administer the oath office to him tomorrow.
The pro-tem Speaker will administer the oath of office and secrecy to the newly elected members on Wednesday.
“Ibobi Singh will take the oath of office and secrecy as the chief minister on Wednesday. Other ministers will be sworn in later,” the source said.
The term of the ministry will expire on March 15 and Manipuris do not consider this day auspicious.
So, the oath taking was scheduled for Wednesday.
However, the AICC is yet to formally announce the leadership of the Congress Legislature Party, a source in the Manipur PCC said.
A meeting of the newly elected 42 Congress members held on March 7 in the presence of two AICC observers entrusted the task of choosing the leader to AICC president Sonia Gandhi after state Congress president Gaikhangam and industries minister Yumkham Erabot Singh contested for the leadership during the meeting.
Ibobi Singh visited New Delhi on March 10 and came back to Imphal the next day after meeting Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P. Chidambaram.
Gaikhangam and Erabot Singh are still camping in New Delhi.
Ibobi Singh became the chief minister for the first time in 2002.
The Secular Progressive Front ministry with the CPI completed the first term and continued the coalition after the 2007 election with Ibobi Singh as the chief minister for the second time.
This time, the CPI pulled out of the coalition after the January 28 polling.
With the Congress winning absolute majority by winning 42 out of 62 seats, the Congress will be forming a single party ministry.
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