New Delhi: The Congress is banking on Rahul Gandhi’s Mizoram tour, which will begin on October 15 and the party’s secular alliance with two regional outfits may swing the Assembly election results. Polling for all the 40 Assembly seats in Mizoram will be held on November 7. Results will be out on December 3. Rahul’s visit comes after the Congress Central Election Committee, headed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, discussed the party’s poll strategy for the north-eastern state and the potential candidates on October 12.
“We had earlier requested Rahul to spend a few days in the state. We hope that his visit will boost the prospects of the Mizoram Secular Alliance in the state,” Mizoram Congress chief Lalsawta told ETV Bharat. The Mizoram Secular Alliance comprising Congress, Zoram Nationalist Party and People’s Conference Party was formed in August and hopes to defeat the ruling Mizo National Front headed by Chief Minister Zoramthanga.
The Congress had emerged as the second-largest party in the 2018 Assembly polls in terms of vote share and is now hopeful of staging a comeback on the basis of the secular alliance. Accordingly, Rahul is expected to highlight the need for a secular alliance and caution the Mizoram residents against a spillover of the Meitei-Kuki tribal conflict that has ravaged neighbouring Manipur since May.
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“The Manipur tribal conflict is a major issue in Mizoram. We will highlight the role of the recently formed INDIA alliance needed to counter the BJP nationally as well as in the state,” Lalsawta said. According to Congress strategists, the grand old party’s ally ZNP was once a faction of the Zoram People’s Movement, which is being seen by many as a challenger to the ruling MNF.
The MNF, a constituent of the BJP-led NDA, often faces the charge of playing second fiddle to the saffron party by the ZPM, which had recently made waves by winning all 11 seats in the Lunglei local body polls. The Lunglei local polls were significant as the MNF had won all four Assembly seats that fall under the municipal council’s jurisdiction in 2018.
The same year, ZPM surprised everyone by winning eight Assembly seats and now hopes to form a government based on its greater Mizoram plank. Both the MNF and the ZPM have been flexing muscles of late and have already named candidates for all 40 seats. Within the secular alliance, the two Congress allies ZNP and PCP do not have a strong support base in the state, but are opposed to the MNF and the BJP, which is trying to find a foothold and could win only one seat in 2018.
The Congress had named Lalsawta as state unit chief in 2021 to regroup the Congress, but infighting remains. Recently, party MLA KT Rokhaw joined the MNF. Former chief minister Lalthanhawla, who was recently inducted into the Congress Working Committee by Kharge, remains a popular face in the state and will be deployed to campaign for the secular alliance, said party insiders.
