The oath-taking ceremony of the newly elected members of the Manipur Legislative Assembly will be held on Monday. To administer the oath, the state government on Sunday appointed senior BJP MLA Sorokhaibam Rajen Singh, who has been elected from the Lamsang constituency, as the protem speaker at the Darbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan in Imphal.

The oath-taking ceremony of the protem speaker was attended by caretaker Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Th Biswajit Singh, Y Khemchand Singh, Govindas Konthoujam and L Sushindro Singh, among others.

Asked when the BJP will stake its claim to form the new government, the protem speaker said the BJP is a well-disciplined party and all elected members will abide by the decision taken by the party’s high command.

He further said that there was no infighting within the party over the chief minister’s post, negating news reports in the social media that suggested some newly-elected BJP MLAs are vying to become the CM.

BJP leader Th Biswajit Singh, who according to the reports is one of the contenders for the CM’s post, said, “Some baseless news reports have been doing the rounds. There is no infighting or separate camps among the elected members of the BJP for the time being. All members will adhere to the decision taken by the party’s parliamentary board and within a few days we will come to know who will lead the new government in the state.”

The BJP won 32 seats out of 60 seats in the recently concluded Manipur Assembly elections. Except for the NPP, the NPF and the JD(U) along with two Independent MLAs have pledged their support to the BJP.