Manipur: Biren Singh takes CM's oath for his 2nd term
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New Delhi: N Biren, the renowned erstwhile footballer, took the oath to Chief Minister's office in Manipur for the second term after leading the BJP to a win in the State Assembly elections. On Monday, the former journalist took his pledge after becoming a single majority in the Assembly after a lustrous performance in the recently concluded polls, Asian News International reported.
Sixty-one-year-old Singh turned to journalism before entering politics in 2002.
He was born in Imphal and graduated from Manipur University. He had played football for Border Security Force (BSF), winning Durand Cup playing against Kolkata's Mohun Began in the final of1981. Later he left the BSF team and played some domestic tournaments.
He started journalism in 1992 without formal training and launched a regional newspaper, 'Naharolg go Thoudang'. He was its editor till 2002.
In 2002, he contested for the Democratic Revolutionary Peoples' Party at Heingang Assembly constituency and won.
In 2003, he joined Congress and retained his seat. Under Congress CM Okram Ibobi Singh, he became the minister for vigilance, and in 2007 he became minister for irrigation, flood control, youth affairs and sports.
But he left the party after an unexpected rift with Ibobi Singh and was thrown out of Cabinet after the 2012 elections. However, he won the Heingang Assembly seat for the third time.
In 2016 he joined BJP after rebelling against Ibobi. While the Congress fell in the 2017 elections, Biren Singh led the BJP to weave a coalition government in the state and become the chief minister. He had won the Heingang Assembly seat for the fourth time then. Now, he has brought BJP to the helm with the single majority. The party had won 32 of 60 seated Manipur Assembly.