Ahead of the state Assembly elections, Nagaland’s former chief minister KL Chishi, former home minister Y Patton, and 12 other leaders are set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday, 22 January.
Chishi had resigned from the Congress on Saturday, and indicated that he would be joining another national party, reported the Nagaland Post.
Former home minister Yanthungo Patton had last week resigned as member of the Assembly and the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF) to join the BJP.
Independent legislator Jacob Zhimomi too on Sunday resigned from the Nagaland Assembly to join the BJP.
"I have taken this conscious decision to join the BJP to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for the development of the northeastern states," said Zhimomi, who had supported the combined NPF-BJP led government headed by Chief Minister TR Zeliang.
The newly-defected leaders will be inducted into the party in the presence of party national general secretary and north-east in-charge Ram Madhav.
State BJP President Visasolie Lhoungu said that the former legislators decided to join the BJP after witnessing the overall performance of the BJP-led NDA central government.
The Election Commission on 18 January announced the schedule for Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland Assembly elections.
The term of the Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura legislative Assemblies is ending on 6 March, 13 March and 14 March, respectively. The elections will be held in Tripura on 18 February, and Meghalaya and Nagaland on 27 February.
The counting for all three states will take place on 3 March.
The Democratic Alliance, supported by the the BJP, holds power in Nagaland. The Left Front rules in Tripura, while the Congress holds power in Meghalaya.
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