Close on the heels of Kh Joykisan’s entry to Janata Dal-United (JD-U), Jiribam MLA Ashab Uddin on Friday joined the party after resigning from the Manipur Legislative Assembly.

A reception ceremony was held at JD-U head office located at Keishamthong Hodam Leirak, Imphal West in the presence of party secretary general Maisnam Dorendro Singh.

Ashab Uddin said he decided to join JD(U) in order to bring a change in the state and Jiribam in particular under the dynamic leadership of the party national president and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar.

“As an independent MLA, I cannot fulfill the aspirations of the people in my constituency. With JD(U) I hope to bring more development in Jiribam and also in Manipur”, he said.

Secretary general, state JD-U Maisnam Dorendro Singh told the media that more MLAs are likely to join the party in the next few days.

Dorendro further said that JD-U would be supporting any political party which is going to form the new government in the state.

Ashab Uddin was elected as an independent candidate during the 2017 Manipur Legislative Assembly election and has been supporting the BJP. He is one of the MLAs who supported the BJP in forming the Government after the last Assembly election held in 2017. He tendered his resignation on Thursday.

Subsequently, the Manipur Legislative Assembly secretariat has declared the 40-Jiribam Assembly constituency as vacant with effect from Friday.

Meanwhile, Indian National Congress intending candidate of Thongju assembly constituency Shanglakpam Preshorjit Singh along with 25 members of Thongju Block Congress committee, including 13 women Congress workers, also joined the JD-U at its state head office on Friday.

Preshorjit said he was an INC intending candidate but unfortunately not allotted the INC election ticket for the Thongju assembly constituency. With support from the people of Thongju assembly constituency, he decided to join JD-U in order to take part in the coming State Legislative assembly constituency, he added.