Amid speculations over whether the Janata Dal-United will withdraw its support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, the Speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly on Friday accepted the merger of five JD (U) MLAs to the BJP legislature party under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The development came in the wake of the JD-U MLAs and the party's state unit president going for the party's national executive meeting, which will begin from Saturday.
Against this backdrop, chief minister Nongthombam Biren also rushed to New Delhi late last night after being summoned by the BJP's central leaders.
According to a bulletin issued by the Manipur Legislative Assembly secretariat, the Speaker accepted the merger of the five MLAs namely Kh Joykisan of Thangmeiband constituency, Thangjam Arunkumar of Wangkhei constituency, Achab Uddin of Jiribam constituency, Ngursanglur Sanate of Tipaimukh constituency and LM Khaute of Churachandpur constituency to the BJP Legislature Party. Notably, these same MLAs left Imphal on Friday for the national executive committee meeting.
Despite the JD-U having six MLAs, Abdul Nasir was not part of the MLAs that were merged with the BJP Legislature Party. A reliable source from BJP said Nasir is currently stationed abroad and likely to merge with the BJP after his return.
Meanwhile, following the recent split of the JD-U from the National Democratic Alliance, speculations have been rife that the party will be compelled to pull out itself from the N. Biren Singh-led government in Manipur.
Earlier, state unit JD-U president Ksh. Biren had said that the national executive committee meeting will be held on Saturday while the national council meeting will be held on Sunday. He said that after the series of meetings, the party MLAs along with him will separately meet the central leaders.
He added that the central leaders of the party will give their final decision on whether the party should pull out from the BJP-led coalition government in Manipur.
However, the leader of the JD-U legislative wing, MLA Kh Joykisan, before leaving Imphal, had said that the central leaders will decide on whether to break ties with the BJP in Manipur and the modalities thereof. He had said that everything will be finalised within two days.
It may be mentioned here that the JD-U has the third highest number of MLAs after the BJP and the NPP. Notably, the BJP already has enough of its own MLAs to sustain its government and it is unlikely that the withdrawal of JD-U's support will affect the government.
