With BJP in Manipur facing a huge rush of ticket seekers for the assembly polls, intending candidates have started switching sides. Lourembam Sanjoy Singh, one of the intended candidates on Saturday joined the National People’s Party (NPP).

BJP has worked out an agreement of cooperation with its members dithering them from switching sides. However, the first casualty of this agreement came when Singh resigned from BJP on Saturday. Sanjoy was intending to get a ticket from Andro seat in Imphal East district.

NPP national vice president and deputy chief minister Y Joykumar Singh said that more BJP leaders who are anticipating that they will not get BJP’s ticket will join NPP. NPP has released a list of 20 candidates.

NPP is a partner of BJP led government however it is contesting polls on its own. NPP is planning to contest 40 seats. Manipur will vote on February 27 and March 3 to elect 60 legislators.

Joykumar said, “Let BJP announce its tickets, and most of their winnable intending candidates who are not given tickets, will run out the BJP house and join us”.

BJP has recently asked candidates to ink “agreement of cooperation “with some intending candidates to prevent them from joining other parties when they are not given tickets.