PATNA: JD(U) is in upbeat mood in Manipur after a large number of BJP leaders, disgruntled over denial of ticket to contest the current assembly polls, deserted the saffron party and joined the Bihar’s ruling party.
The BJP and JD(U) are the NDA allies in Bihar and also at the Centre, but both are separately contesting the current assembly polls in Manipur and Uttar Pradesh.
Exodus in the BJP’s Manipur state unit began on Sunday after the party announced the list of its candidates from all 60 seats, going to the polling in two phases on February 27 and March 3. Counting of votes will be held on March 10 with other four poll-bound states.
Deprived of the party symbol, around 15 prominent BJP leaders in Manipur deserted the saffron party and joined the JD(U) and few other regional parties. Most of the BJP deserters joined the JD(U).
“We expect that more leaders of other political parties will join our party in next few days,” JD(U) general secretary in-charge of northeast states Afaque Ahmad Khan, who is camping at Imphal, the capital of Manipur, for the last 10 days, told TOI over phone on Wednesday.
Initially, the JD(U) after measuring its strength in Manipur, had planned to field its candidates from around 20 seats, out of total 60 in the state assembly.
But now, as many prominent leaders of BJP and the Congress, some of them sitting and former MLAs, have joined or planning to join the Bihar CM Nitish Kumar’s party, the JD(U) has decided to increase the number of seats it intends to contest in the northeastern state. The JD(U) now plans to field its candidates from 75% to 80% of the total seats.
“So far, we have released the names of our candidates from 36 seats. The first list of 30 candidates was released on Tuesday, while another list of six candidates on Wednesday. February 8 and February 11 are the last date for filing nominations for the first and second phase, respectively. We will release more list of candidates before the last date of filing nominations,” Khan told this newspaper.
He said more senior leaders of the BJP and the Congress have approached our leaders and they wanted to contest the assembly polls on JD(U) symbol.
