Last BJP member in Mizoram’s Chakma district council joins MNF

Aizawl, Oct. 6 (PTI): The last remaining BJP member in Mizoram’s Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC) left his party and joined the Mizo National Front, the MNF said on Wednesday.

There were eight BJP leaders in the CADC and all of them joined the MNF, which rules Mizoram, in the past six months and Shanti Jiban Chakma is the last in the list.

Of the 24-member Council, 20 are elected and four are nominated by the governor. Following the move by Chakma, all the elected 20 members now belong to the MNF.

He resigned from the party on Tuesday following the reconstitution of the Chakma District BJP Committee on October 3 in which MLA Buddha Dhan Chakma was made the district president, the MNF said in a statement.

Shanti Jiban was against the appointment of Buddha Dhan as it hurt the sentiments of the people of CADC since it was constituted without the knowledge of the concerned representative of the BJP, it said.

In his resignation letter, Shanti Jiban Chakma cited lack of reliable leadership and scope in BJP as the reason for leaving the party.

Of the eight BJP members of the CADC, six joined the MNF in March while Kusum Lota Chakma did it in September.

The Executive Committee of the CADC is dissolved following the resignation of its Chief Executive Member (CEM) Durjya Dhan Chakma on October 3. The CEM is the head of the council.

The CADC is an autonomous council for ethnic Chakma people, formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India on April 29, 1972. The Council exercises legislative, executive and judiciary powers over allotted departments within the territory of CADC.