Babulal Marandi merges JVM with BJP, Amit Shah, JP Nadda welcome former Jharkhand CM

Former Chief Minister of Jharkhand and JVM(P) president Babulal Marandi on Monday merged his party with the Bharatiya Janata Party. The merger took place in the state’s capital city of Ranchi in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. The development comes less than two months after the results to the Jharkhand Assembly elections were declared. The verdict saw BJP finish a distant second with 25 seats while Marandi’s JVM(P) ended with three.

Welcoming Marandi back into the BJP fold, Shah said that he has been trying to do so ever since he was appointed as the president of the BJP. “I have been trying to bring Babulal Marandi into BJP since I was made BJP chief in 2014. Someone rightly said that he is quite stubborn. We couldn’t persuade him easily. He has now joined BJP as per the wish of the people of Jharkhand,” he said.

The merger took place months after the party was dethroned by the grand alliance comprising JVM, Congress and RJD. In the Assembly elections held in December last year, the BJP won 25 seats while the JVM(P) pocketed three seats. The grand alliance secured 47 seats.