IMPHAL: It has already been two weeks now that Yumnam Khemchand has been sworn-in as the chief minister of Manipur but there seems to be lots of difficulties in expanding his ministry to the full form.
On February 4, Khemchand was sworn-in as chief minister along with two deputy chief ministers and two cabinet ministers. Given the 60-member assembly, the full ministry strength should be 12 members including the chief minister. As such, seven ministerial posts are still vacant. Moreover, the portfolios of those ministers sworn-in two weeks ago are also still not assigned. All these are the strong indicators that immense tussles are going on among the MLAs as well as among the coalition partners for the cabinet shares.
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Meanwhile, some reports, however, said on Wednesday that chief minister Yumnam Khemchand may go to Delhi in a day or two to meet the central leaders in connection with the ministry expansion. However, sources in the BJP said there is no certainty with regard to the time of the chief minister’s visit to the national capital.
Separate sources, though the obvious things, said immense lobbies among the ruling legislators are underway for the cabinet berths and portfolios.
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