N Biren Singh will be the Manipur chief minister for a second straight term, while Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are clear favourites in Uttarakhand and Goa respectively but face some opposition.
Biren Singh was on Sunday unanimously elected the leader of the BJP legislature party in Manipur. The process was overseen by Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was sent to the Northeastern state as BJP's central observer.
Senior MLA Th Biswajit Singh, who was also a contender for the post, could not make the cut as the scales tilted heavily in favour of Biren Singh, who powered the saffron party to an emphatic win with 32 seats in the 60-member assembly and support of six MLAs of the JD(U) and five of the Naga People's Front.
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Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda in New Delhi to fine-tune the ongoing exercise for government formation in the four states where the BJP posted resounding victories.
The newly elected BJP MLAs of Uttarakhand will meet in Dehradun on Monday to choose who will be the next chief minister of the hill state where the party has stormed back to power for an unprecedented second successive term.
The decision to convene a meeting of the MLAs on Monday was taken after Dhami, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Trivendra Singh Rawat - both former CMs, among others, met the party's central leadership at Shah's New Delhhi residence.
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State party chief Madan Kaushik said that besides Shah, J P Nadda and General Secretary (Organisation) B L Santhosh were also present in the meeting.
Kaushik said the BJP legislative party will meet Monday evening after the MLAs have taken the oath as members of the state assembly.
BJP has deputed Defence Minister Rajnath Singh as the observer for government formation in the Uttarakhand.
The BJP, despite an unprecedented victory, has been in a bit of quandary over the new chief minister as Dhami, who spearheaded its successful campaign, was defeated in the elections. But he continues to be the frontrunner for the chief minister's post despite.
However, some probable names are also doing the rounds, such as that of Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Shrinagar MLA Dhan Singh Rawat, and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni. Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt and former chief minister and union minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank are also being talked about as probable candidates.
The suspense over who will be the next chief minister of Goa will also end on Monday when the BJP lawmakers will go into a huddle to elect their leader before calling on the governor to stake claim to form the government.
"BJP president J P Nadda has informed that the legislature party meeting would be held on Monday after which party leaders will meet Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai and stake a claim to form the next government," Goa BJP president Sadanand Shet Tanavade told a press conference in Panaji.
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Like in Uttarakhand, caretaker Chief Minister Pramod Sawant is the frontrunner for the top position but senior party colleague and a member of the outgoing cabinet Vishwajit Rane is also learnt to have thrown his hat into the ring.
Both Sawant and Rane had met Amit Shah in New Delhi on Saturday evening in the presence of Nadda and Santhosh.
The BJP has 20 MLAs in the 40-member assembly, just one short of a simple majority. It, however, enjoys the backing of three Independents and two MLAs of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP).
Tanawade said the date of swearing-in of the new government will be decided after meeting the Governor on Monday.
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With PTI inputs
