Congress leaders who joined BJP shine as CMs in Northeast
India Today
The BJP has made a record in the Northeast. Here in 4 states, BJP made leaders sit on the chief minister's chair, who joined the saffron party after quitting the Congress.
In Tripura, CM Biplab Deb suddenly surprised everyone by submitting his resignation to the governor on Saturday. By the evening, the BJP high command also informed Tripura the name of the new chief minister. However, this is not the first experiment done by the BJP. Earlier, changes in the CM posts were seen in Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Karnataka. The BJP rules in the four Northeast states. It offered chief ministerial posts to leaders who left the Congress and joined the saffron party. Here are the details of Congress leaders who left the grand old party and bagged the CM post after joining the BJP.
Assam: Himanta Biswa Sarma
Himanta Biswa Sarma became the 15th Chief Minister of Assam in the year 2021. He was given this responsibility in place of Sarbananda Sonowal. Himanta joined the BJP in 2015 after quitting the Congress. Sarma's vigorous campaign in the 2016 Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha elections was considered one of the important reasons for the BJP's victory. Himanta has been elected MLA for the fifth consecutive time from the Jalukbari Assembly seat of Assam. Himanta Biswa Sarma was made a cabinet minister in Sonowal's government. In the 2021 elections, he won by a bumper margin of over 1 lakh votes. He was made the convener of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) by the BJP. He made a big contribution in bringing the BJP to power in many states of the Northeast.
Manipur: N Biren Singh
N Biren Singh left the Congress in 2016 and joined the BJP, just a year before the 2017 Assembly elections in Manipur. After 15 years, a non-Congress government was formed in the state, and the BJP made N Biren Singh CM. Biren Singh became the first CM of BJP in Manipur. He showed his stamina by winning the floor test of the assembly with the support of 33 MLAs of the BJP and its allies. Earlier, Biren Singh was a minister in the government led by Ibobi Singh, but he resigned from the Pradesh Congress Committee. In the same year, in the election of 2022, the BJP contested in Manipur under the leadership of N Biren Singh and won. Biren started his career as a football player. Later, he joined the Border Security Force (BSF). After that, he turned to journalism. N Biren Singh won the election for the fifth time from the Hingang seat.
Nagaland: Neiphiu Rio
Neiphiu Rio made the record of becoming CM for the most times. Rio was a senior Congress leader. He quit Congress in 2002. He had resigned due to differences with the then CM SC Jamir on the Nagaland issue. After that, Rio joined the Naga People's Front (NPF). It was associated with local political parties and the BJP. Under his leadership, the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) was formed. This alliance won the assembly elections in 2003. At the same time, Congress was thrown out of power after 10 years. Neiphiu Rio became the Chief Minister of Nagaland for the first time. In 2008, the DAN coalition formed the government and Rio became the CM. In 2013, the NPF won a majority in Nagaland. Rio became CM for the third time. Later in January 2018, Rio joined the National Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) after the NPF broke its alliance with the BJP. Rio had forged an alliance with the BJP before the elections in 2018. On winning the election, he became the chief minister with the help of the BJP. Neiphiu started his political journey in 1989 and was the CM of Nagaland during 2003-08, 2008-13 and 2013-14.