Manipur Political Crisis: 3 BJP MLAs Join Congress, TMC & Independent Withdraw Support; Biren Singh Government in Trouble

Imphal, June 17: In a major setback to the Biren Singh government in Manipur, three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs joined the Congress on Wednesday. The three legislators - Subhashchandra Singh, TT Haokip and Samuel Jendai resigned as BLP MLAs and joined the Congress in Imphal. Meanwhile, Trinamool Congress’ T Robindro Singh and Independent MLA Shahabuddin also withdrew support to the ruling alliance creating political instability in the state.

Four ministers of BJP’s ally National People’s Party (NPP) also resigned from the ministerial posts. These four ministers are - Y Joykumar Singh, N. Kayisii, L Jayanta Kumar Singh and Letpao Haokip. As three BJP MLAs switched to the Congress, the total strength of the assembly has come down to 56. Earlier, Shyamkumar Singh of Congress had defected to the BJP, due to which he was disqualified. Migrant Workers, Travelling on Shramik Special Train to Manipur, Attacked in Bihar, CM N Biren Singh Asks Nitish Kumar to Book Miscreants Immediately.

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Seven more Congress MLAs had also defected to the BJP after the 2017 assembly elections. However, the Assembly speaker is yet to make decision on their disqualification. In the 60-member House, the BJP now enjoys the support of only 30 members.

In the 2017 elections, the BJP had won 21 seats. Naga People's Front with four MLAs and NPP joined the ruling coalition. As the TMC and the Independent also extended support to the saffron party. It managed to prove majority in the assembly. Biren Singh was sworn in as the CM of the state. Later, eight Congress MLAs also defected to the BJP,  out of which one was disqualified.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 17, 2020 09:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).