The man who ran Manipur three times in a row

The three-term chief minister of Manipur Okram Ibobi Singh has kept the party alive throuhg tempestous political weather in Manipur.

The current Chief Minister of Manipur, Okram Ibobi Singh of the Indian National Congress has served two consecutive full terms in the face of great political instability in the state, since 2002.

He was born on 19 July, 1948, in Thoubal Athokpam in Manipur to Okram Angoubi and Lukamani Devi. Okram Ibobi Singh hails from the Meitei tribe of Manipur and is a graduate with a BA degree. His wife Landhoni Devi is a Congress MLA in the current legislative assembly from the Khangabok constituency. He is known to play a major role in pulling the Congress to power in the state.

Political career's inception

Manipur attained statehood in 1972 and since then the state went through periods of political turmoil with the change of government eighteen times.

After the assembly elections in 2000, a coalition consisting of the Congress and the Samata Party came to power. In 2001 this Congress coalition led by Chief Minister Radhabinod Koijam proved to be short lived lasting only a few months. After the elections, the following year, the Congress chose Okram Ibobi as the CM. He served as the chief minister from 2002 to 2007 for his first term. Though the government encountered financial problems in the first term, the governance proved popular and he was elected for the second term as the chief minister.

In the state assembly elections in 2012, the Congress party got an absolute majority with 42 seats out of a total of 60 assembly seats. The Congress officially named Okram Ibobi Singh as the leader of the Congress legislative party and he was sworn in for his third consecutive term as the chief minister on March 14, 2012, by the Governor Gurbachan Jagat.