Four Opposition MLAs, Including Two From Congress and One From JMM, Join BJP in Jharkhand

Four opposition members of the Jharkhand Assembly moved to the ruling BJP in Ranchi on Wednesday, party sources said. The Congress lost two legislators, Sukhdeo Bhagat and Manoj Yadav; the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) lost Kunal Sarangi; and independent Bhanu Pratap Sahi also made the switch.

Who was present

The four were welcomed into the party at its Ranchi office with Chief Minister Raghubar Das in attendance. Nand Kishore Yadav, the BJP’s election co-in-charge for the state, and former Union minister Jayant Sinha also attended the event.

Other developments

According to the sources, a second JMM legislator, Jaiprakash Bhai Patel, had been expected to switch to the BJP on the same day but did not arrive. Senior BJP leader Pradip Sinha said that D K Pandey, a former director general of police in Jharkhand, had also joined the party.

The defections took away two Congress legislators, one JMM member and an independent from the opposition benches, strengthening the ruling party’s position in the Assembly as it prepared for the state election, for which it had already named an election co-in-charge.

What happened next

In the 2019 Jharkhand Legislative Assembly election, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha won 30 seats, the BJP 25, the Congress 16 and the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantrik) 3. Hemant Soren became Chief Minister after the election.

See also: Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Bharatiya Janata Party.

Originally published on 23 October 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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