Mizoram polls: BJP not to form alliance with Congress, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

Aizawl, Oct 25: What do we say that the BJP has refused to forge an alliance with the Congress in poll-bound Mizoram? Well, it certainly sounds bizarre for how could the two main rivals in the country's politics join hands? But given the fact that politics is the art of the possible, anything can happen under the sun.

Assam's Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who is also the BJP's in-charge for Mizoram elections, said here on Wednesday, October 24, that the saffron party will neither make an alliance with the Congress nor the Mizo National Front (MNF) - a regional force, reported The Mizoram Post. Sarma, who came to Mizoram for the state BJP social media IT training, was speaking at the state BJP office.

Sarma also refuted charges that the BJP is a pro-Hindu party and said it is an outfit that works for the development of India. He said the party has Christian MPs and MLAs in various states and it respects the culture and religion of Mizoram, which is a predominantly Christian state.

But why did Sharma say that the BJP will neither make alliance with the Congress nor the MNF?

BJP-Congress alliance? Yes, it happened in Mizoram a few months back

To understand this, we have to go back by a few months. In April, elections in 19 out of 20 seats of Chakma Autonomous District Council (CADC), an autonomous council for ethnic Chakmas residing in South-western Mizoram bordering Bangladesh and Myanmar, saw a hung result. While the MNF won eight seats, the Congress won six and BJP five. It was then when the two national parties decided to join hands and named their alliance as United Legislature Party to keep the MNF at bay.

The BJP thereby took up the leadership of the CADC as six Congress members extended it support. Sources in the saffron party had said that it would head the body which was formed under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution in 1972.

Mizoram Sports Minister Zodintluanga, a Congress leader, however, said that the post-poll alliance was made after the local leaders agreed and added that it would have little implication for the politics in Delhi or even in the upcoming Assembly elections in Mizoram.

Congressmen supported BJP in individual capacities?

It was also said that while the party had mulled action against its elected CADC members for making an alliance with rival Congress, it later agreed after the six Congressmen who supported the coalition decided to do so as individual members leaving behind their party identity, reports cited a BJP leader as saying.

The BJP-Congress alliance also looked odd since the MNF is a part of the North-East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) which was formed by the BJP in May 2016. BJP president Amit Shah had also tweeted about the results of the CADC, calling it as the beginning of the BJP's rise in Mizoram since the two parties had 13 seats between them, well above the magic mark.

Congress minister said party is too strong in Mizoram

The Congress, however, did not support the viewpoint that its members were supporting the BJP in individual capacities. Zodintluanga counter claimed that the BJP decided to take the Congress's support since the ethnic Chakmas understood that the Congress would be back to power after the Assembly polls, reports added.

In the North-east, ground compulsions perhaps pose bigger challenges than party divisions and Sarma laid it out very clearly to kill all speculations, even if he sounded bizarre to many.