Former Assembly Speaker Martin M. Danggo today resigned as a member of the BJP citing “personal reasons”.
He sent the resignation letter to the State BJP president urging him to consider his request to leave the party.
Danggo had joined the BJP in February last year, ahead of the Assembly elections.
He was the Assembly Speaker between 2003 and 2008 when he was in the Congress.
Danggo is a known party hopper as he changed his political affiliation from one party to another.
First elected to the Assembly from the erstwhile Langrin seat in 1998 as a nominee of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM), Danggo in 2003 won the seat on a Congress ticket.
After the creation of Ranikor constituency following delimitation, Danggo was again elected as MLA in the 2008, 2013 and 2018 elections from Ranikor.
However, after getting elected in 2018, he resigned from the Congress and joined the ruling NPP in order to get the demand for Ranikor civil sub-division.
When he contested the by-election in August 2018, he was defeated by Pius Marwein of UDP. While Marwein polled 7,144 votes, Danggo managed to secure only 2,682 votes.
Danggo’s relations with the NPP deteriorated as he was sidelined by the party. He later resigned from the NPP and joined the BJP.
He contested the 2023 Assembly election on a BJP ticket but lost again to Marwein.
Marwein defeated Danggo with a margin of 5649 votes.