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In a jolt to the Congress in Manipur, four party MLAs including Y Surchandra Singh and Ngamthang Haokip joined the ruling Bhartiya janata Party (BJP) on Friday. The other two are O Lukhoi and S Bira. Chief Minister N Biren Singh, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state unit president K Bhabananda were present when the MLAs joined the BJP.
After the Assembly elections in the state, Congress MLAs Th Shyamkumar Singh, who is now a minister in the BJP-led coalition government, and Ginsuanhau had joined the BJP too.
The move comes a day after 23 out of 25 Congress councillors in the Itanagar Municipal Council (IMC) joined the BJP in presence of Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu and BJP state President Tapir Gao in Itanagar and two days after 65 Congress leaders joined the BJP along with their supporters ahead of the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) election. In Delhi too, where the Congress suffered a defeat in the recently-held municipal corporation election, the party lost two senior leaders Arvinder Singh Lovely and Barkha Singh to the BJP.
Rajat Sethi, an advisor to the Manipur chief minister, tweeted that the defection came even as Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi was holding a coordination meeting of the Northeast Congress units in Delhi with the aim of strengthening the party.
In the March Assembly elections in Manipur, the Congress secured 28 seats, two short of the half-way mark. The BJP, which emerged second with 21 seats, formed the government taking support of Independents and regional party legislators. The defection of the four Congress MLAs today further cements the BJP government. The Congress was in power in Manipur under the leadership of Okram Ibobi Singh for the last 15 years.
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