AIZAWL:
Six days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) emerged as the single largest party in the southern Mizoram’s Mara Autonomous District Council and with no party staking claim to form the new executive body, the saffron party has renewed its efforts to form the government on its own.
“Being the largest single party, we will stake claim to form the BJP government. We need just one more member to get a simple majority. I hope things will sort out soon,” BJP spokesperson Tetei Fanai said, on May 15. Fanai also hinted that “some” MDCs from the Mizo National Front (MNF) will join the BJP.
The new development comes a day after four Congress members reportedly agreed to form a coalition government with the nine-member MNF, against the Congress political action committee’s (PAC) decision to remain in the opposition.
True to Congress spokesperson Lallianchhunga’s remarks on May 13 that “the situation can change overnight”, the proposed MNF-Congress coalition government could not make any progress due to reported disagreement on power sharing.
The following day on May 14, addressing a press conference at Aizawl, Lallianchhunga confidently said that the four Congress MDCs would sit in the opposition bench. “We respect the mandate of the Mara people which showed that they wanted the Congress party to sit in the opposition bench,” Lallianchhunga said.
He said that the MNF and the BJP are alliance partners in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) as well as the North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), so it would not be difficult for the two parties to form the coalition government.
“The Congress and the MNF can have 13 MDCs to form the next government in the MADC, but the Congress party is not sure if it would be a stable government and the decision will also be against the mandate of the Mara community,” he said.
He lauded the Congress MDCs – H Malvyna, H Hrangchuanga, TA James Riatha and ST Vanmalsawmliana – for being obedient to the decision of the party PAC.
The Anti-Defection Law does not apply to the Autonomous District Councils created under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. This is the main reason, according to political experts, why the ADCs in Mizoram failed to have a stable government in the past.
Meanwhile, Governor Haribabu Kambhampati has fixed the date for election of the chairman of the council as May 18 with the nominees to file their nominations on May 17.