Sita Soren, a three-term JMM MLA and elder daughter-in-law of party patriarch Shibu Soren, joined the BJP in Delhi on Tuesday, dealing another blow to the Jharkhand-based party smarting from the arrest of former chief minister Hemant Soren.

Sita's switch comes a fortnight after the Supreme Court verdict in her case that said lawmakers have no immunity from criminal prosecution on charges of accepting bribes to vote or speak in the House.

Sita, who represented Nala Assembly seat, tendered her resignation from the JMM claiming that she and her family were being neglected and isolated. Her exit from the party weeks before the Lok Sabha polls comes as a setback for the ruling JMM-Congress-RJD coalition government in Jharkhand.

Last month, the Congress’s lone Lok Sabha MP in the state, Geeta Koda (Singhbhum), had joined the BJP.

Rakesh Choudhary, a close aide of Sita, told The Telegraph that she would contest the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket. “She has joined the BJP and would be looking forward to fighting the Lok Sabha polls from Dumka,” Choudhary said.

The BJP had announced sitting MP Sunil Soren as its candidate for Dumka earlier this month. A senior BJP leader in Ranchi, however, said the party could change the candidate as the nomination had not been filed yet.

On the case pending against her in the CBI court, Choudhary said: “Technically she can contest the election as she is yet to be convicted.”

Sita is facing charges of accepting a bribe from an Independent candidate in the 2012 Rajya Sabha elections and was the petitioner in the 1998 JMM bribery case involving Shibu Soren.

JMM spokesperson and central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharya termed Sita’s defection an unfortunate development but ruled out any impact on the party’s Lok Sabha poll preparations.

“We always treated her with respect as she represented our bade bhaiya Durga Soren (elder son of Shibu Soren). However, she has not raised her grievances in any party forum. We came to know through the media about the resignation and before Guruji could speak to her, we came to know that she had joined the BJP in Delhi. It seems she was committed to taking the suicidal step. We only offer our best wishes,” said Bhattacharya.

Sources close to Sita said she was dissatisfied at not being included in the Hemant Soren and Champai Soren cabinets.