Congress lawmaker in Manipur likely to join BJP

Imphal, Sep 10 (IANS) Congress lawmaker in Manipur, Yumkham Erabot, on Saturday said he is all set to resign from the ruling party and while he didn't specifically announce his next move, his supporters said he was likely to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Talking to reporters here, Erabot said that he will submit his resignation to the party in a day or two.

Justifying his stand, he said that in the last 15 years, he has been representing the Wangkhei constituency he could not serve the people properly.

"This is because of the fact that there appears to have two MLAs in this constituency," he said. Though he did not name anyone, his reference was to Chief Minister Okram Ibobi's nephew Okram Henry, who has been laying the ground works to contest from this constituency in next year's elections.

There had been obstructions and on some instances there were threats also," said Erabot.

His supporters had converged in his house and later they took out a procession.

Though Erabot said that he will disclose his next political move in due course, some of his hardcore supporters told IANS that they urged him to join BJP.

Sources in Congress told IANS that some more party MLAs are likely to resign shortly.