IMPHAL: In a big blow to Janata Dal-United (JD-U) chief Nitish Kumar, five of the six MLAs of the party joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Manipur on Friday evening.
The development assumes significance as CM Nitish Kumar broke all ties with the BJP in Bihar earlier in August.
A statement from the Manipur Assembly Secretary K Meghajit Singh with his signature on it, said that the Speaker was 'pleased to accept the merger' of five JDU MLAs with the BJP under the tenth schedule of the Constitution.
The statement went on to add that since the number of the MLAs switching to the BJP was greater than two-thirds of the total, the move would be considered valid.
The MLAs who joined the BJP are Kh Joykishan, N Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, former DGP L M Khaute and Thangjam Arunkumar.
Khaute and Arunkumar had earlier sought to contest the assembly polls on BJP tickets but joined the JD(U) after being denied candidature by the saffron party.
Now, JD(U)'s Muhammad Abdul Nasir remains the only MLA from the party in Manipur. Nasir won the Lilong seat this year.
The JD(U) had won six of the 38 constituencies it had contested in the assembly elections held in March this year, while the Bharatiya Janata Party secured a majority of 32 seats in the 60-member state Assembly
In August, the Election Commission had formally recognised the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) as a 'state party' in Manipur. The party has been recognised as the state party in two other states- Bihar (since 2005), and Arunachal Pradesh (since 2019).
The other political parties recognised as a 'state party' in three states include Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janta Dal (Secular). AAP is recognised as the state party in the states like Delhi, Punjab and Goa, while the JD(S) is recognised as such in Karnataka, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.
It may be mentioned that six JD(U) MLAs out of seven in Arunachal Pradesh joined the BJP in 2020,. The last remaining MLA, Techi Kaso,also joined the saffron party in August this year.
Earlier in August, in a major political move, the Chief Minister of Bihar broke all ties with the BJP and decided to form the government with Tejashwi Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), the Congress and other like- minded parties.
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