Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Sept 4: Five Janata Dal (United) MLAs on Sunday joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of party President JP Nadda in the national capital. Kh. Joykishan Singh, Ngursanglur Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, Thangjam Arunkumar, and LM Khaute merged with the ruling party BJP on Friday, according to a statement from the Manipur 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,” said the Legislative Assembly Secretariat.
The merging of JD(U) and BJP MLAs has dealt a significant blow to Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in the northeast. In the recently held Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party won a majority of 32 seats in the 60-member state Assembly, according to the results announced on March 10. Meanwhile, JDU chairman Rajiv Ranjan Lalan Singh alleged on Saturday that the BJP used money to force the merger.
“Whatever happened in Manipur (merger of JDU MLAs into BJP) was done by BJP using money power. For the PM, coming together of opposition parties is corruption. They can do whatever they want but JD(U) will become a national party by 2023,” the JDU chief said.