Mizo National Front denied ticket to Lalrinliana Sailo for November 7 polls (File)
In a major setback for the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) ahead of the Mizoram assembly polls, Lalrinliana Sailo on Wednesday said that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to contest the November 7 elections. Mr Sailom also resigned as the Mizoram Assembly Speaker.
"I would also quit the MNF party and join the BJP for the all-round development of Mizoram. As BJP is now at the Central government, Mizoram needs support and funding from the Union government," he said.
He submitted his resignation letter to the Assembly Deputy Speaker H Biakzaua and requested him to accept it.
The ruling MNF had last month finalised candidates for all the 40 assembly seats but denied a ticket to Mr Sailo.
The Congress-turned 64-year-old MNF leader has been elected to the assembly four times from the Chalfilh constituency.
The development comes days after another MNF MLA, K Beichhua, resigned and joined the BJP.
Meanwhile, the BJP's Central Election Committee is likely to meet on October 15 to finalise candidates for the upcoming elections in Mizoram, Rajasthan, Telangana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh.
The Committee had earlier held a meeting in Delhi on October 1, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP chief JP Nadda, Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Arjun Ram Meghwal.