In a major setback to Congress ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, party's lone Jharkhand MP and the wife of ex-CM Madhu Kora, Geeta Kora left the party and joined BJP on Monday. Madhu Kora, who was charged with Rs 4,000 crore in irregularities in the 2017 coal block allocation case and later convicted in a disproportionate assets case, has also joined the BJP. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Tuesday stated that she is an "honest leader, and has always shown a mirror" to the state government, news agency ANI reported.
On Geeta Koda joining BJP in Jharkhand, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey stated: "Geeta Koda is an honest leader. She has always shown a mirror to this government. As far as Madhu Koda is concerned, she is his wife, all the cases against Madhu Kauda happened during the Congress era, and Congress made him the Chief Minister. All corruption chargesheets were submitted to the court during the Congress era. All these cases are going on in the court."
Her departure has left the Congress-Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) governing coalition with only one MP from the state, Vijay Hansdak, after the BJP won 12 of the 14 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
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Geeta, the Singhbhum MP, is expected to strengthen the BJP's chances in Kolhan division, which includes three districts: East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum, and Saraikela-Kharsawan. In the 2019 Assembly elections, the BJP failed to register an account in the area.