MNF rules out tie-up with BJP

Former chief minister Zoramthanga said his party, Mizo National Front (MNF), will contest assembly polls later this year on its own. The MNF is a member of the BJP-floated platform of non-Congress parties, North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA).

“We will contest all the 40 seats. We are not going to have any alliance with the BJP. Election is likely to be held in November this year,” Zoramthanga told ET. When asked the reason for the decision, he said, “In Mizoram the BJP is assisting the Congress. The BJP and the Congress have jointly formed the Chakma Autonomous District Council.”

Five BJP members and six Congress members had last month formed the council. The BJP had then said that the Congress members who were joining the council were doing so in their individual capacity and not as party members.


Zoramthanga said the Congress, which has been ruling the state since 2008, will not win more than 10 seats in this year’s election. “See what is happening to the Congress across the country. Here also the Congress will suffer a crushing defeat.”

He said that the state is ready for change and that the MNF will romp back to power following the assembly polls.

The MNF had emerged from the Mizo National Famine Front, a platform that protested pagainst the inaction of the Centre during the 1959 famine in Mizo areas of Assam, and it went on to form the government twice. The front, led by Laldenga, staged an uprising in 1966 and carried out underground activities for several years.