NPF’s Newmai sworn as Minister in Manipur

Awangbou Newmai, MLA, was sworn in on Friday as a Minister in the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition cabinet Ministry. Governor Najma Heptulla administered the oath of office and secrecy at a simple function at 4 p.m. in the Darbar Hall of Raj Bhavan.

Mr. Newmai is the Manipur unit president of the Naga People’s Front (NPF). He is one of four MLAs who was elected on an NPF ticket. One member of the NPF is already a State Minister.

The NPF leadership in Kohima, Nagaland, has not been pleased by the way the four NPF MLAs were given “stepmotherly treatment for a long time”, sources said. Though the Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren had assured them of induction in the next reshuffle, such issues were relegated to the back seat as the government focused on more pressing matters.

The reshuffle would have otherwise taken place soon after the disqualification of Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar by the Speaker’s tribunal on March 28 for crossing the floor for political gain.

Mr. Biren has been urged to helm a reshuffle several times. However, sometime later, it was seen as an internal matter of the BJP.

The NPF MLAs in Manipur did not get a satisfactory reply when they wanted to know why all four MLAs from the NPP were made cabinet Ministers, while just one NPF MLA was inducted in the council of Ministers. Sources said they had conveyed their unhappiness to the ruling dispensation.

The coalition Ministry was sworn in on March 16, 2017. The BJP had bagged 21 seats and the Congress 28 seats in the 60-member House.