Ibobi Singh’s nephew, four other ex-Cong MLAs from Manipur join BJP

New Delhi, Aug. 19 (IANS): Turning the table on the Congress in Manipur, the BJP on Wednesday welcomed five former Congress MLAs, who had resigned from the party amid the political instability in the northeastern state, into the saffron party here in the presence of BJP General Secretary Ram Madhav.

Among those who joined the BJP was Congress leader and former Manipur Chief Minister Ibobi Singh’s nephew Okram Henry, who called the NDA government in the state a “people’s government”.

“I love how they work. That is why I joined the BJP. I want the party to grow,” said Henry, adding that people had lost “trust” in the Congress government, so they brought the NDA into power.

Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh along with party leader Jay Panda were also present when the five former Cogress MLAs joined the BJP in the national capital. In fact it was Panda who handed over the party membership to each of the five former Congressmen.

“With this, the political instability in Manipur is over for now,” said Madhav.

The Biren Singh-led government recently faced uncertainty after nine MLAs, including four from the NPP, three from the BJP, one of the Trinamool Congress and one Independent member, withdrew support in mid June.

However, the situation was salvaged after the four NPP MLAS were flown into Delhi where they met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and party President JP Nadda.

Drawing a comparison between Rajasthan and Manipur, Ram Madhav alleged, “The Congress was doing exactly the same in Manipur what it has wrongfully alleged us of doing in Rajasthan.” He claimed that unlike in Rajasthan, where the Congress MLAs did not want to resign, the five Manipur MLAs have resigned to join the BJP, which shows their faith in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government’s developmental work in the state.