Manipur governor Najma Heptullah will invite the Congress party to form the government, because with 28 of the 60 seats, it is the party with the single-largest tally.

Currently, the Congress leaders are in a huddle deciding what to do next. Accepting the offer will mean that they will have to prove that they have a majority of 31 MLAs with them.

The high-strung drama over who will form the government in Manipur continued late into Sunday night, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) staking claim to form the government, too. State party leaders, along with Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, too, met Governor Najma Heptullah late Sunday evening, even as the Congress claimed it still had the numbers on its side.

BJP MLAs with Najma ​Heptulllah

According to sources, a chunk of Congress MLAs and the lone Trinamool Congress (TC) MLA Tongbram Robindro Singh too, could move over to the BJP camp, surprising everyone. The Congress, however, denied this, saying "our MLAs are still with us, as are two MLAs of the National People's Party (NPP)".

The BJP had already claimed that it had the support of the lone Lok Janshakti Party from Langthabal, and four candidates each from the NPP and the Nagaland People’s Front (NPF), BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav said.

In a tightly-fought electoral battle, the BJP made a stunning entry into Manipur with 21 seats. If the BJP gets the numbers, it will be the party's first government in Manipur, where it had not won a single seat in the last assembly elections.

In that case, sources said, BJP's N Biren Singh is likely to be the new Chief Minister. Singh, a former Congress minister with a history similar to Himanta in Assam, was a footballer and then an editor.

“It is the people's mandate, they want a change. They don't want the rule of the gun, they want development and that's what BJP stands for,” Singh told DNA.

If not, it could be a record fourth term for the 68-year-old Okram Singh Ibobi.

Earlier on Sunday, Congress spokesperson Randeep Surjewala alleged that the lone independent candidate, Jiribam MLA Ashab Uddin, had been abducted by the BJP.