Ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections in Jharkhand, five MLAs from opposition parties joined the Bhartiya Janta Party on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Raghubar Das. BJP State President Lakshman Giluwa and party’s election in-charge Nand Kishore Yadav were also present at the event.
The individuals who joined the saffron party are MLA Kunal Sarangi, MLA JP Bhai Patel, MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi, MLA Sukhdev Bhagat, and MLA Manoj Yadav. Speaking on the occasion, Raghubar Das said, “Today is an important day for the BJP. The veteran leaders of Congress Sukhdeo Bhagat and Manoj Yadav, JMM legislator Kunal Sarangi and former IAS and IPS officers have joined the party over issues of development and nationalism.”
MLA Kunal Sarangi represents Baharagora constituency, MLA JP Bhai Patel represents Mandu. Both of these MLAs belonged to Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
MLA Bhanu Pratap Shahi represents Bhawanathpur assembly, and he is from Nav Jawan Sangharsh Morcha. The remaining two joiners- Lahardagga MLA Sukhdev Bhagat and Barhi MLAManoj Yadav, were from the Congress party.
Bhagat and Yadav had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Lohardagga and Chatra seats respectively. However, both were disappointed with their party leaders and accused them of diminishing their winning chances.
Along with the opposition politicians, few retired bureaucrats also joined the BJP. These included former DGP DK Pandey, former IPS Arun Oraon, and former IAS officers Suchitra Sinha and RP Shahi.