Jharkhand assembly speaker Mrigendra Pratap Singh on Thursday resigned from the Bharatiya Janata Party and joined the Rashtriya Janata Dal in presence of RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in Patna.

Singh said he was not only quitting the BJP after 25 years, but giving up the speaker's post.

He said he decided to join the RJD because it was "almost difficult to breath in the BJP".

Lalu announced that the RJD would field him from Jamshedpur (west) constituency in the coming elections.