Five of the six Janata Dal (United) MLAs in Manipur merged with the BJP on Friday, weeks after Nitish Kumar's party broke ties with the BJP in Bihar and walked out of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance.
Soon after the valid merger of Manipur JD(U) MLAs with the BJP, MP Sushil Modi took a jibe at the Bihar chief minister saying states like Manipur and Arunachal have become "JD(U)-mukt".
Among the JD(U) MLAs, who joined the BJP ahead of the saffron outfit's crucial national executive meeting in Patna, include Khumukcham Singh, Ngursanglur Sanate, Achab Uddin, Thangjam Arun Kumar, and LM Khaute.
The Speaker of the Manipur Legislative Assembly has approved the merger of Janata Dal United legislators and the BJP.
This is the second blow for Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal United in the last nine days.
On August 25, the lone JDU MLA, Teki Kaso in Arunachal Pradesh, joined the BJP in the presence of party national president JP Nadda.
Janata Dal United had won seven seats in the Arunachal Pradesh Assembly elections in 2019, but six of its members later switched sides and joined the BJP. The lone MLA also joined the saffron party on August 25.
Slamming the BJP, JD(U) spokesperson and former minister Neeraj Kumar promised to defeat the saffron party in the 2024 elections.
"BJP has a history of betraying alliance partners. They first persuaded seven of our legislators in Arunachal Pradesh to defect, and now five in Manipur. We'd won these elections entirely on our own. This is the BJP's new personality, which does not want other small parties to grow. The country's people see everything, and the Janata Dal United party will defeat the BJP in 2024," he stated.