GUWAHATI: Mizoram Congress has attributed the cause of the “debacle” in the Assembly elections to a “failure to project its achievements in the past 10 years” even as it respected the mandate of the electorate and committed to play the role of an “effective and responsible” Opposition.
Congress won just five seats in the hill state, a “defeat” after ten years of being in power at a stretch.
“I would say that we failed to project on our achievements between the years 2008 and 2018. We should have promoted our performance in the last two years, which could have then negated the anti-incumbency factor against us. Besides, another main reason is the switching of sides to Zoram Peoples Movement (ZPM) by people who had voted for Congress in 2008 and 2013 whereas the MNF had retained its vote-bank at the grassroots,” Mizoram PCC spokesperson, Lallianchhunga told The Shillong Times.
Asked about the “failure of the Lal Thanhawla government to create jobs not going well with young voters”, he said that “the party between 2008 and 2018 did recruit lots of youths via Mizoram Public Service Commission and other government departments.
“But we failed to give publicity to such job creation in power sector and horticulture colleges. In tourism also, we have encouraged households to create home stays. In our manifesto also we had mentioned that we would create 1000 jobs for the village youths in five years,”
Lallianchhunga said that the party respected the mandate of the people. “Congress will play the role of a very effective and responsible Opposition in the coming years,” he assured.
Meanwhile, Mizoram BJP general secretary, Vanlalhmuaka told The Shillong Times “We were expecting three to five seats. So, it was unexpected. But the vote swing can be attributed to the chief electoral officer issue coupled with Lal Thanhawla’s accusation of BJP being pro-minority, pro-Bru and pro-Chakma.”
He further said that while the Church is very much against BJP, Lal Thanhawla had even told the people of Mizoram the only party they have to be afraid of was BJP. “His fight was against BJP and because of his accusations he and his brother also lost two seats. So, we are happy that the Congress government has been toppled and that people are aware that BJP is in Mizoram soil now,” he said.
The BJP leader further said that “MNF is our NEDA partner. It’s good that they won and we wish them all the best. But I don’t expect that they will need support from BJP as they can form the government alone…In the coming Lok Sabha elections, central leadership and NEDA will have a talk with them. Our plan is the Lok Sabha polls.”
