N Biren Singh, Ex Footballer And Journalist, Steers BJP Ship In Manipur

Footballer-turned-politician N Biren Singh is all set to take oath as Chief Minister of Manipur for the second term on Monday after he led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recently concluded state Assembly polls to victory.

Mr Singh, 61, was earlier a footballer and later he took to journalism before finally switching to politics in 2002.

Born in Imphal in 1961, Mr Singh graduated from Manipur University. He played football for the Border Security Force (BSF) team, which won the Durand Cup, defeating Kolkata team Mohun Bagan in 1981. Quitting the BSF team a year later, he then played several domestic tournaments.

Following his stint as an active football player, Mr Singh took up journalism in 1992. With no formal training, he started a regional newspaper 'Naharolg go Thoudang' and worked as an editor till 2002.

Another turn of fate in 2002 led him to take a plunge into politics. Mr Singh made his debut by joining the ranks of the Democratic Revolutionary Peoples' Party. Contesting his first election in 2002, he won the Heingang Assembly constituency.

After switching to Congress in 2003, Mr Singh managed to retain his Heingang seat. In the Congress government under Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, Singh was a minister of vigilance. He also became a minister for irrigation, flood control and youth affairs and sports in 2007.

However, there was a fallout between Mr Singh and Okram Ibobi Singh, who was considered his long time close aide when he was left out of the Cabinet after the 2012 elections. Notably, he won a third consecutive term from the Heingang Assembly seat.

In 2016, he rebelled against the then Chief Minister and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in October.

In the 2017 Assembly polls, Congress faced defeat, falling short of a clear majority. N Biren Singh led the BJP to cobble together a coalition government, becoming the chief minister of the state. In 2017, he won the Heingang seat for the fourth term, and also became the first Chief Minister from the BJP.

He established his position in the BJP further by winning the 2022 mandate with the party on its own crossing the halfway mark in the Assembly.

The BJP won 32 out of 60 Assembly seats in Manipur.