Five out of six MLAs of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) in Manipur has joined the ruling BJP on Friday, a statement from the state assembly said, weeks after he broke off an alliance with the party for the second time in nine years. The JDU had won six of the 38 constituencies it had contested in the assembly elections held in March this year. The MLAs who joined the BJP are Kh Joykishan, N Sanate, Md Achab Uddin, former DGP L M Khaute and Thangjam Arunkumar.
This is the second time the BJP targeted Nitish Kumar party’s legislators in the northeast. In 2020, six of seven JDU legislators had joined the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh. The statement signed by Manipur Assembly Secretary K Meghajit Singh said that the Speaker was pleased to accept the merger of five JDU MLAs with the BJP. Since the number of MLAs who switched sides was greater than two thirds of the total, their switch will be considered valid.
