Political activity in New Delhi involving a majority of the NDA MLAs and the Union home ministry’s administrative initiatives on Tuesday, February 3 helped in working out an arrangement under which BJP’s Meitei leader of standing Y Khemchand Singh, who is a former Speaker, an ex-minister and a graduate in martial art, “emerged as the most acceptable” legislature party leader. Kuki BJP MLA and a former minister and more importantly a woman Nemcha Kipgen is tipped to be deputy chief minister. There are 10 Kuki MLAs, of whom seven belong to BJP and Tuesday’s meeting was attended by five of them, which signalled dissent in the Kuki MLA group.

The possibility of there being one more deputy chief minister from the National People’s Party (NPP), which is a partner in the NDA coalition, is also very much there [the NPP unit in Manipur is part of Meghalaya’s ruling party headed by Conrad K Sangma, son of Meghalaya’s veteran politician and a former Lok Sabha Speaker late P A Sangma who had founded it in 2013].

The choice of Meitei leader Khemchand, Kuki leader Kipgen and the BJP leadership’s readiness to offer a deputy chief minister’s post to NPP lend themselves to interesting interpretations. For Khemchand, it is a recognition of his efforts over the past several months to reach out to the Kuki-Zos. On Monday, December 8, 2025, he had travelled to two Kuki villages, Litan in Ukhrul and Chassad in Kamjong, both of which are Naga majority Hill districts. On that occasion, he also visited the Kuki relief camp at Litan Sareinkhong Baptist Church and interacted with the inmates there. Secondly and of considerable political import is BJP’s decision to not consider former chief minister and a Meitei veteran N Biren Singh for a fresh innings as CM.

This is because Kuki-Zo civil society organizations were highly displeased with Biren for “his dictatorial ways and visible efforts to brand Kuki-Zos as illegal immigrants from Myanmar and sideline them in administration in which the Valley-based Meiteis always had the upperhand. The persistent Kuki-Zo demand for a separate administrative mechanism in the format of a Union Territory with legislature can be traced to this feeling.

In this context, it may also be mentioned that a few months back when BJP was trying to find out who could be an acceptable person for the chief minister’s position, the name of the current Speaker Thockchom Satyabrata Singh was seriously considered by the leadership. But, ground realities were not conducive.

Kipgen’s choice for a deputy chief minister’s post is clearly an attempt to pacify the aggrieved Kuki-Zos and helps BJP in claiming credit for elevating a woman to a politically important position in this backward north-eastern state. The readiness to have a second deputy chief minister from the coalition partner may be seen as BJP’s attempt to ensure stability of the ministry and see that it has a representative character. For all practical purposes, it is BJP’s serious endeavour to strike an ethnic and political balance in Manipur, which is very slowly inching towards normalcy in terms of law and order but where normal movement on national highways is still a task for the authorities because of the trust deficit.

In the 60 member-House, one seat is vacant. BJP has 37 MLAs, who include 10 Kuki members of whom seven belong to BJP. Allies NPP and Naga People’s Front have six and five members respectively. At the moment, the home ministry and BJP have arguably succeeded in avoiding further extension of President’s rule, which was given effect to on February 13, 2025 after Biren resigned on February 9. As law and order issues persisted and the trust deficit between the Meiteis and the Kuki-Zos persisted, circumstances compelled the Union government to extend President’s rule by six months, for which parliamentary approval was obtained by the Centre on August 5.

Under the Constitution, President’s rule can be continued for a maximum of three years – six months at a time – under circumstances detailed therein. Given the signs of dissent visible in the Kuki-Zo MLA group and indications that there is also some dissatisfaction in NPP [former president Y Joykumar Singh reportedly launched on Monday, February 2 a party under the name and style of NPP (Tera Lal), the new ministry may be called an experiment that BJP’s national-level decision makers are making.

The Kuki-Zo Council has made it clear today that if any of their MLA participates in the ministry disregarding the collective decision made in Guwahati on January 13 against taking part in ministry formation, they will be doing so in their individual capacity. KZC shall not be held responsible for the consequences that follow of their unilateral decisions.

Meanwhile, Manipur PCC chief K Meghchandra Singh has moved the Manipur High Court challenging the “unconstitutional exercise of powers by Governor Ajay Bhalla to pave the way for President’s rule on February 13, 2025. In the petition filed on January 29, Meghchandra has also sought “the dissolution of the remainder of the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly under the provisions of Article 174(2) of the Constitution of India”. (IPA Service)