The Bharatiya Janata Party's chances to form the government in Manipur have increased significantly with the Nationalist People’s Party (NPP) and Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) extending their support to the saffron party. BJP general secretary Ram Madhav said the NPP and the LJP have extended their support to BJP to form the government. We have the support required to form government in Manipur. We will prove it on the floor of the house: Ram Madhav, BJP Gen Secy in Imphal pic.twitter.com/Pkkhy6nctN — ANI (@ANI_news) March 12, 2017 Taking forward their bid to form the government, the BJP MLAs along with supporting NPP and LJP MLAs met Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla. BJP MLAs and its supporting MLAs meet Manipur Governor Najma Heptulla pic.twitter.com/b0SWrcFVnV — ANI (@ANI_news) March 12, 2017 NPP president Conrad Sangma also confirmed their support saying that the NPP is in alliance with the BJP at the centre and it is only natural to do so in Manipur. BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav also indicated the possible support of the Naga People's Front (NPF), which has won four seats. The NPF is also one of NDA's alliance partners at the Centre. National Peoples' Party is in alliance with BJP at the Centre; was natural for us to work with them in Manipur too: Conrad Sangma, NPP Prez pic.twitter.com/CdMoIDqbvG — ANI (@ANI_news) March 12, 2017 Meanwhile, the BJP received another shot in the arm after Congress MLA Shyamkumar Singh from Andro assembly constituency defected from Congress to join the saffron party. Also, the only Trinamool Congress MLA switched parties, adding to the number of seats BJP has. This latest addition has brought the alliance in the majority with 32 seats, making it possible to form the government in Manipur. The Manipur assembly election was a close race between the two mainstream parties- BJP and the Congress. The results had led to a hung verdict with no clear cut majority. Neither of the two parties could reach the required number- 31 out of 60 assembly seats to form the government. The Congress got the highest number of seats as it secured 28 seats, followed by BJP's 21 seats. The LJP managed to bag one seat while NPP and NPF secured 4 seats each.
