Shillong | Eight legislators of Meghalaya’s United Democratic Party (UDP) joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in New Delhi on Wednesday in the presence of Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Welcoming the legislators into the BJP, Rijiju said they had been impressed by the development work undertaken in the Northeast under Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led governments over the past 12 years.

“We welcome eight elected members of the Assembly, MLAs of Meghalaya, into the BJP family. They earlier belonged to UDP, a very prominent regional party,” Rijiju said at a press conference.

Rijiju said the legislators had been influenced by what he described as the transformation of the Northeast under the BJP-led government and Modi’s engagement with the region.

“Looking at the progress of Northeast and Meghalaya under Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the last 12 years and the transformation which has taken place, the heart-to-heart connection of Narendra Modi ji with the people of Northeast and the way BJP has changed the politics of development in Northeast. All eight MLAs are extremely impressed and influenced by Modi ji and our BJP-led government’s performance,” he said.

The induction comes ahead of the next Meghalaya Assembly election and is set to alter the political composition of the state.

The UDP is one of Meghalaya’s major regional parties and has been part of successive coalition governments in the state. The move marks a major organisational change for the party, with eight of its elected legislators shifting to the BJP.

The development also gives the BJP a larger bloc of legislators in the Meghalaya Assembly and could have a bearing on the state’s coalition politics ahead of the next election.