GUWAHATI: Congress suffered a blow in Arunachal Pradesh as two of its legislators Ninong Ering and Wanglin Lowangdong, along with National People's Party's (NPP) Mutchu Mithi and Gokar Basar, joined BJP in the presence of CM Pema Khandu in Itanagar on Sunday. Lok Sabha elections and assembly polls in the northeastern state will be held simultaneously this year.
The four MLAs submitted their resignation letters to the assembly speaker. Prior to this, BJP had 49 MLAs in the 60-member assembly, while Congress and NPP had four each. Three were independents.
Congress has already suffered setbacks in neighbouring Assam, where two legislators extended support to BJP recently, while another party MLA backed BJP's ally AGP.
Ering, a former Union minister in Manmohan Singh's govt, expressed regret for not being able to join BJP during 2019 elections due to some "technical reasons". Associated with ABVP during his school days, Ering said he has finally chosen to reconnect to Sangh Parivar. He said that he would be happy to get a BJP ticket for the assembly polls.
NPP's Mutchu said: "My supporters wanted me to join BJP. I am fulfilling their wish." Speaking on the occasion, Khandu said the people of Arunachal have made up their minds to vote for BJP again. "BJP is the only party...Others have nearly lost their existence before BJP," he said.
Kangkan Kalita is a reporter with The Times of India and covers i...
Read MoreKangkan Kalita is a reporter with The Times of India and covers issues on health, education, stories of human interest while keeping a close watch on political developments and student movements. Reporting on environment and forest related issues and concerns of the northeast interest him equally.
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