Meghalaya: 4 Congress MLAs to join BJP today

Shillong : Four sitting Congress MLAs from Meghalaya will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav credited the induction of Congress MLAs in BJP to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On December 30 last year, in a major blow to the Mukul Sangma-led Congress government in Meghalaya, five of its MLAs, including former deputy chief minister Rowell Lyngdoh, resigned from the state Assembly to join the National People's Party (NPP), an ally of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

Three more legislators have also resigned from the Assembly to join the NPP, which include Remington Pyngrope from United Democratic Party and Independents Stephanson Mukhim and Hopeful Bamon.

The development comes ahead of assembly elections, scheduled to be held in February.

The Congress now has been left with 24 MLAs in the 60-member Meghalaya Assembly.