Patna: A day after five of the six Janata Dal-United (JD-U) MLAs in Manipur merged with the ruling BJP, Bihar Chief Minister and senior JD-U leader Nitish Kumar on Saturday slammed the BJP, saying that this is the reason why he snapped ties with the saffron party.
“Till Thursday, the JD-U MLAs in Manipur were ready to come to Patna for the national executive committee meeting. They were happy about coming to Patna. But the BJP snatched them from us. They do not believe in democracy,” Nitish Kumar said after the national executive committee meeting on Saturday.
“The game begins here, and you would see what happens in the future,” Kumar added.
“I am going to Delhi to meet the opposition leaders. The opposition parties are getting united to challenge the BJP in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. We will defeat the saffron party in the 2024 polls,” the Chief Minister said.
JD-U has 6 MLAs in Manipur and BJP snatched 5 of them on Friday.
The five JD-U legislators in Manipur who joined the BJP are Khumukcham Joykisan Singh (Thangmeiband), Ngursanglur Sanate (Tipaimukh), Md. Achab Uddin (Jiribam), Thangjam Arunkumar (Wangkhei) and L.M. Khaute (Churachandpur).
BJP MP from Buxar, Ashwini Kumar Chaubey, said: “The Manipur incident was just a tailor, you will see several JD-U MLAs in Bihar joining the BJP soon.”
Vijay Kumar Sinha, the leader of opposition in Bihar Assembly, said: “Nitish Kumar forgot morality. He acted against the people’s mandate and formed the government in Bihar with the Mahagathbandhan. People will teach him a lesson. Manipur was a small incident, many JD-U MLAs will soon join the BJP in Bihar.”
