INDIA
Mizoram Legislative Assembly speaker Hiphei is joining the BJP.
The Congress could be on a sticky wicket in its last citadel in the Northeast, courtesy its once most prominent leader. Mizoram Legislative Assembly speaker Hiphei is joining the BJP. And the man driving the talks is Assam minister and North-East Democratic Alliance convenor, Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Sources said that Hiphei met Sarma in Guwahati on Tuesday, after which he flew to Delhi on Thursday. Hiphei and Sarma met Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday, when Hiphei’s decision to join BJP was finalised.
Sarma is the election in-charge of Mizoram, a state where Congress has its last standing government in the region. Hiphei was earlier named as the Congress candidate from Palak. In anticipation, the Congress dropped Hiphei’s name from Palak constituency on Friday and announced KT Rokhaw as the party’s new candidate.