NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has delivered a big jolt to the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United) in the northeast, as five out of seven MLAs from Manipur have joined hands with the party. Earlier, bulk of the JDU MLAs joined the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh, giving a nightmare to Nitish Kumar’s party.
Five JDU MLAs merged with the ruling party BJP on Friday, according to a statement from Manipur Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
As per the statement issued by the Legislative Assembly Secretariat, “the Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly is pleased to accept the merger of five JD(U) MLAs with the BJP under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.”
These names include Joykishan Singh, Ngursanglur Sanate, Md. Achab Uddin, Thangjam Arunkumar and LM Khaute.The Bharatiya Janata Party secured a majority of 32 seats in the 60-member state Assembly in the recently held Assembly elections, results of which were declared on March 10.
On August 25 , the lone JDU MLA From Arunachal Pradesh joined the BJP in the presence of national president JP Nadda and Arunachal CM Pema Khandu.
The latest political developments come weeks after Nitish Kumar dumped the BJP and joined hands with Tejashwi Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal, the Congress and other parties to govern Bihar.
Those aware of the development say that the BJP has decided to hit back at the JDU after what transpired in Bihar recently. In 2020 the BJP-JD(U) fought election in an alliance and went on to form the government with Nitish Kumar being given the chief minister’s post.
In less than two years’ time, Nitish Kumar flipped his choices and in a surprise move went on to stitch an alliance with RJD and Congress to form a ‘Grand Alliance’ government in Bihar. (ANI)