'Made Manipur JDU-free, next is Bihar': BJP's Sushil Modi challenges Nitish Kumar

New Delhi: A day after five Janata Dal (United) MLAs from Manipur merged with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), party leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday said that the state has become JDU-free. He exuded confidence that the BJP will very soon break the "Mahagathbandhan" alliance of Janata Dal (United), Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) and Congress in Bihar."Five JDU MLAs joined the BJP in Manipur, the state has become JDU-free. Those MLAs wanted to remain in NDA. Very soon, we will break the JDU-RJD alliance in Bihar and make the state JDU free," said Modi. The BJP MP further said that nobody can become the Prime Minister by installing hoardings and posters.

On Friday, five Janata Dal (United) MLAs merged with the ruling party BJP giving a big jolt to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his party. 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 Kh. Joykishan Singh, Ngursanglur Sanate, Md. Achab Uddin, Thangjam Arunkumar and L.M. 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.

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Earlier bulk of the JDU MLAs joined the BJP in Arunachal Pradesh giving a nightmare to Nitish Kumar`s party. Back on 25 August, the lone JDU MLA from Arunachal Pradesh also joined the BJP in the presence of national president JP Nadda and Arunachal CM Pema Khandu. Lone JDU MLA Techi Kaso also joined BJP, with this now BJP stands at 49 out of 60 Assembly seats (MLA). Out of 9 Corporators of JDU, 8 have joined BJP; now the total number of BJP corporators is 18 out of 20.

Further, out of 18 Zilla Parishad members (ZPM) of JDU, 17 have joined BJP. Now out of 241 members, BJP has 206 Zilla Parishad members. In addition, out of 119 Gram Panchayat Members (GPM) of JDU, more than 100 joined BJP.

With this, BJP now has around 6530 out of 8332. 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.