Imphal, March 20 : Nongthombam Biren Singh was unanimously elected leader of the Manipur BJP Legislature party for a second term as Chief Minister on Sunday. BJP Central observer and on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman made the announcement after a meeting of the party legislators at its state headquarters here. Biren Singh, who was functioning as the caretaker Chief Minister since the recent Assembly polls, where he led the BJP to an absolute majority for the first time in the Northeastern state, had earlier occupied the hot seat from 2017-2022. He is the first BJP Chief Minister in Manipur. With the former journalist-footballer getting a second term as Manipur, Chief Minister, Sitharaman handed a bouquet and congratulated him. Th Biswajit, a strong contender for , also congratulated N Biren along with other BJP legislators. After the announcement of the Assembly poll results on March 10, the BJP had to delay the announcement of the Chief Minister for ten days, apparently to thrash out internal differences. NS SSP