Former Mizo National Front (MNF) leader K Beichhua on Saturday announced he will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the Mizoram assembly polls later this year. BJP media convenor Johny Lalthanpuia said the veteran Mara politician will formally join the saffron camp after poll dates are announced, reported news agency PTI. Beichhua confirmed he will contest the polls from Siaha in south Mizoram on a BJP ticket. He has previously held several portfolios including social welfare, excise and animal husbandry.
Beichhua resigned from Zoramthanga’s ministry on December 13 last year, a day after he was allegedly asked to do so by the then chief minister in the state.
Meanwhile, the ruling MNF expelled him as the primary member of the party on January 25 along with the chairman of the Mara Autonomous District Council (MADC) N Viakhu for ‘anti-party activities’.
In the past, he has been elected from Siaha on an MNF ticket for two consecutive terms since 2013. The announcement about Beichhua joining the BJP comes as the Election Commission of India is expected to announce the poll dates in September or early October.
Currently, the MNF has 28 elected representatives in the 40-member House, while the main opposition Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) has 6, Congress 5 and BJP has one member.
Meanwhile, on Friday Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced the names of the election in-charges and co-in-charges of poll-bound Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has been made the poll in-charge of Rajasthan, along with co-in-charges Nitin Patel, former Gujarat deputy chief minister, and Haryana leader Kuldeep Bishnoi.
Senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur along with Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya will work as co-in-charge. Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav has been announced the election in-charge of Madhya Pradesh. He will work with Ashwani Vaishnav as co-in-charge.
In poll-bound Telangana, former Union Minister Prakash Javadekar will be the election in-charge, with the party’s national general secretary Sunil Bansal as co-in-charge.