CONGRESS Suffers Jolt In Mizoram After Assembly Speaker Hiphei Joins BJP

MIZORAM Assembly Speaker Hiphei has announced that he has resigned from the august office, the House as well as the Congress and will join the BJP ahead of assembly elections in the Christian majority north-eastern state. The seven-time Congress legislator said he submitted his resignation letter to Deputy Speaker R. Lalrinawma who accepted it. He had gone to Congress Bhavan to resign from primary membership of the party. He is the fifth Congress MLA to resign from the 40-member House since September. Mizoram, the only state in the north-east under Congress rule, will go to the polls on November 28.In Guwahati, convener of the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) and Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Hiphei, 81, will join the saffron party in his presence in the Mizoram capital Aizawl.”He is a very senior and respected leader. His joining the saffron party will greatly strengthen the organization,” Sarma, former Congress leader said.He however ducked  question whether he party will field Hiphei from any constituency in the forthcoming Assembly polls in the hill state.The Congress had earlier named Hiphhei as its candidate for the Palak constituency, but replaced him with party general secretary K T Rokhaw last week following reports that he might move to the BJP.Hiphei was elected to the Mizoram Assembly from Palak constituency in 2013. He won the state elections six times between 1972 and 1989 from Tuipang.