In a big setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led coalition government in Manipur headed by Chief Minister N Biren Singh, three Manipur BJP sitting MLAs on Wednesday joined the Congress party and four National People's Party (NPP) members, including three ministers, an independent MLA of Jiribam and Trinamool Congress MLA of the coalition, withdrew support to the BJP in respect of the coalition partner and expressed support to the Congress party.
With the three BJP MLAs joining the party, Congress now has 27 MLAs.
The BJP, which now has 18 MLAs, still have four Naga People's Front backing them. Moreover, they have seven MLAs defected from the Congress who are now facing disqualification at speaker's tribunal. One has been disqualified. These seven MLAs have recently been barred from entering the assembly by the High Court of Manipur over the pending case.
The Congress party will call on the Governor of Manipur to convene special assembly session to move no confidence motion.
