Ranchi, Nov 15 (PTI) Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Dinesh William Marandi joined the BJP on Friday after being denied a ticket by his party for the ongoing assembly elections.
Marandi took BJP membership during a poll rally addressed by Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Littipara.
Chouhan welcomed Marandi, who represents the Littipara assembly constituency, into the BJP fold, emphasising that they would work together towards advancing the progress of Jharkhand and focusing on the welfare of its people.
Hours after he joined the saffron camp on Friday, the JMM expelled Marandi from the party for six years.
The ruling party, in its letter to Marandi, stated that he was served a show cause notice on Thursday but he failed to reply within the deadline.
“You are removed from all party posts and expelled from the primary membership of the party for the next six years,” the JMM stated in the letter.
Marandi, in his remarks, explained that his decision to leave the JMM was due to the denial of a ticket and alleged threats from the party leadership after he voiced his concerns.
“My father Simon Marandi was one of the founders of JMM, and I worked for years to strengthen the party. But now, I’ve been forced to leave for the sake of Jharkhand’s progress,” he said.
In the 2019 elections, Marandi had won the Littipara seat in the Pakur district by defeating BJP’s Daniel Kisku by 13,903 votes.
Chouhan launched a scathing attack on the Hemant Soren-led government, accusing it of turning Jharkhand into a “hub of corruption, poor governance, and scams”.
“The people of Jharkhand are determined to overthrow the corrupt JMM-Congress-led government,” he claimed. PTI SAN MNB BDC
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