Two Independent legislators in Himachal Pradesh joined the ruling BJP on Wednesday in the presence of Chief Minister Jairam Thakur and state party president Suresh Kashyap.
Hoshiyar Singh, the legislator from Dehra, and Prakash Rana, the MLA from Joginder Nagar, took up the membership of the BJP at the state party headquarters in Chakkar in Shimla.
Chief Minister Thakur said the Independent legislators' joining would make the party and the government stronger.
State BJP president Kashyap said both Mr Singh and Mr Rana had been supporting the party in the assembly for long and they have now officially joined it.
With this, the number of BJP MLAs has risen to 45 from 43. The opposition Congress has 22 MLAs while the CPI(M) has one MLA in the 68-member assembly.
Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh are scheduled for later this year.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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