From Saurav Borah
GUWAHATI: Five-time Mizoram chief minister, Lal Thanhawla is confident of retaining the 34 constituencies currently held by the Congress in the November 28 Assembly elections and achieve an “elusive hat-trick”.
“Our preparations for the Assembly elections are going in full swing. We are contesting all the seats and expecting to retain the 34 seats which we are currently holding,” the 81-year-old veteran Congressman told The Shillong Times over phone on Wednesday.
Mizoram is currently the lone Congress-ruled state in the Northeast. The equation though is different this time for the grand old party with BJP upping the ante in the wake of a visible and unprecedented presence in the region.
Besides, traditional archrivals, Mizo National Front too is blowing the poll bugle loud and clear and expecting to cash in on the apparent “internal bickering” in the incumbent party.
The chief minister had recently levelled allegations of corruption against two former Cabinet colleagues, with one of them resigning and the other issued a show-cause notice.
However, Lal Thanhawla seems unfazed by the odds, claiming that there is no anti-incumbency to upset his party’s poll prospects. “I would rule out any anti-incumbency wave for that matter,” he said.
The longest-serving chief minister with a combined tenure of 20 years, Lal Thanhawla has won two successive Assembly elections since 2008.
“I am confident of scoring a hat-trick and breaking the jinx this time with the support of the people of Mizoram,” he said.
Lal Thanhawla is contesting from two seats, Champhai South and Serchipp.
“This is the fifth time I am contesting from two constituencies. My party people have again requested me to contest from the two constituencies which has been ours. So we are aiming to recapture them this time,” he said.
On the BJP allegation that the Congress is spreading propaganda against the saffron party, the veteran leader bluntly said, “BJP is not friendly to Christians and Muslims. They are spreading anti-Congress propaganda. So why should we remain silent.”
As part of its strategy, Congress has fielded Chakma candidates in the two Chakma-dominated Assembly constituencies of West Tuipui and Tuichawng.
Asked about the allegations by NGOs that the Chakmas are “illegal infiltrators”, he categorically said, “We are not influenced by NGOs.”
On what would his agenda, the chief minister said that he would carry on with his flagship programme, New Land Use Policy (NLUP), which he claimed has ushered in economic development in the state over the past decade. The prime objective of NLUP is to develop and provide all farmers of the state suitable, permanent and stable trades.
“The NLUP has become very popular now and despite attempts by the five opposition party presidents to belittle the programme at the Centre, the Prime Minister himself has said it was a good programme for other states to emulate,” he said.
“The results have been good as well with the Gross State Domestic Product of Mizoram today being one of the highest in the country. We are ranked among the top four states and our per capita income is higher than the national average by more than Rs 1000. The finance ministry has projected a double-digit GSDP at the end of the current fiscal. Besides, we have been declared the least malnourished state in the country,” Lal Thanhawla said.
On the Congress High Command’s strategy of picking young candidates for the Assembly polls, the veteran leader said that 14 candidates are below the age of 40 while the average age would hover around the early 50s. “I am the oldest (candidate) but physically the fittest,” the octogenarian said, in a lighter vein.
Asked about his fitness mantra, he said, “I am very careful about my health and diet.”