Lal Thanhawla to continue as Mizoram Congress chief

Former Mizoram chief minister Lal Thanhawla would continue as the president of the Mizoram Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) with no other candidate filing nomination paper for the post till Tuesday, party sources said.

The MPCC elections were scheduled to be held on July 24 and Tuesday was the last date for filing nominations.

The former five-time chief minister would continue as the MPCC chief at the age of 81 due to absence of a viable alternative, a senior party leader said.

An extended meeting of the office bearers of the party on Tuesday decided that Lal Thanhawla should be elected unopposed as the MPCC chief and that he would appoint the vice president and treasurer of the party.

Accordingly, treasurer of the MPCC, H. Liansailova, was appointed as vice president, and leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Zodintluanga, was appointed as treasurer.

Lal Thanhawla retained the top job of the MPCC even after the party's debacle in the elections to the 40-member Mizoram assembly held in November last, in which the Congress managed to win only five seats.

He lost both seats that he had contested.