BJP hijacking Cong MLAs to achieve majority in Manipur: Ripun Bora

Assam Pradesh Congress Committee President and Rajya Sabha member Ripun Bora on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was "hijacking" the MLAs of the grand old party in order to achieve majority in the Manipur Assembly.

"The BJP is doing horse-trading in Manipur. They are murdering democracy all over the country. We have got information that the BJP has hijacked five to six Congress MLAs and taken them to Guwahati," Bora told ANI.

The BJP yesterday named Nongthombam Biren Singh as the legislative party leader in Manipur.

Singh, once a member of the Congress Party, yesterday said that he left the grand old party because of mis-governance.

Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal, who is the BJP's in-charge in Manipur, said the decision is unanimous, adding the saffron party will soon stake claim to form the government in the state.

"After extensive consultations and discussions with party president Amit Shah, who has been authorised by the parliamentary board of the BJP to finalise the leader of the legislature party in Manipur, party MLA Biswajeet Singh proposed the name that the legislature party leader in Manipur will be N. Biren Singh, who has been elected unanimously," he added.

He further said the BJP will be forming the government in the state with the support of three parties-- the Naga People's Front (NPF), the National People's Party (NPP), the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) and other newly elected MLAs.

In Manipur, the BJP claims to enjoy support of 32 MLAs in the 60-member assembly. The Congress won 28 while the BJP bagged 21. The NPP and the NPF won four seats each while the LJP and the Trinamool Congress secured one seat each.