GUWAHATI
At a time when leaders from other parties are joining the Bharatiya Janata Party across the poll-bound Northeast, a few BJP leaders, including a former MLA, joined Congress in conflict-scarred Manipur allegedly amid intimidation.
Elangbam Chand Singh, the former legislator, and three other BJP leaders joined the grand old party in the State’s capital Imphal in the presence of Angomcha Bimol Akoijam, the Congress candidate for Inner Manipur constituency, on Monday.
Radical organisations such as Arambai Tenggol have reportedly imposed restrictions on the political parties and the candidates by issuing a set of “campaign rules”. The State government has not reacted to such diktats.
The flight of the BJP leaders to Congress in Manipur followed the switchover of the sons and daughters of some former Congress MLAs in Assam over the past few weeks.