BJP gets leg up in Jharkhand as 5 oppn MLAs join party ahead

Five opposition MLAs in Jharkhand joined the BJP on Wednesday, giving the state's ruling party a shot in the arm ahead of the Assembly polls later this year. Those who switched sides included Sukhdeo Bhagat and Manoj Yadav of the Congress, Kunal Sarangi and Jaiprakash Bhai Patel of the JMM, and Independent MLA Bhanu Pratap Sahi, party sources said.

With the induction of the five lawmakers, the BJP's strength in the 81-member House has risen to 48. While Bhagat, a former Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee president, represents Lohardaga constituency, Yadav was elected from Barkatha seat.

Sarangi had won from Baragorah constituency and Sahi is a two-time MLA from Bhavnathpur. Patel represents Mandu constituency in the House. Sarangis father Dinesh Sarangi was also a minister in the erstwhile BJP-led NDA governments of Babulal Marandi and Arjun Munda.

Former Jharkhand police chief Dinesh Kumar Pandey, who retired from service this year, and former IAS officers Suchitra Sinha and R P Singh also joined the party. Arun Oraon, who voluntarily retired from the IPS some time back and had joined the Congress, also took BJP membership. Chief Minister Raghubar Das embraced Congress MLAs Sukhdeo Bhagat and Manoj Yadav, JMM MLA Kunal Sarangi and Independent lawmaker Bhanu Pratap Sahi at an event at the BJP office here.

An hour after the chief minister had left for Giridih to attend another function, JMM lawmaker Patel turned up at the BJP office in Ranchi and joined the party, BJPs Jharkhand unit spokesman Shiv Pujan Pathak told PTI. Welcoming the MLAs and former civil servants into the party, the chief minister said they joined the BJ P as they were influenced by the party's ideology of 'Sab ka saath, sab ka Vikas'.

"All these people have joined the BJP to give a stable government in the interest of society and the state. They believe in the BJPs ideology, which is a happy message to the state, as the people of the country and the state have rejected dynastic politics," Das said. The BJP has often targeted the Congress and the JMM over "dynastic politics".

BJPs Jharkhand Election co-in-charge Nand Kishore Yadav, who is a cabinet minister in Bihar, former union minister Jayant Sinha and the partys state unit president Laxman Gilua were also present at the event. In February, 2015, six Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) MLAs had joined the BJP.

Elections to the state Assembly are likely in November-December. The Raghubar Das government will be the first of the 10 governments Jharkhand has seen since its creation in 2000 to complete a full term in office..

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