Mizoram's ruling MNF forms alliance with HPC(R) ahead of assembly polls

The ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) in Mizoram and the Hmar People's Convention (Reformation), a faction of the HPC party, on Saturday formed an alliance ahead of the November 7 assembly polls in the state.

An agreement for the alliance was signed by MNF general secretary Lalmuanthanga Fanai and HPC(R) general secretary HT Vunga.

According to the agreement, the two parties will work together in the upcoming assembly polls and the HPC(R) will extend full support and make efforts to ensure that MNF candidates in the three Hmar people-dominated constituencies -Tuivawl, Chalfilh and Serlui- in the Sinlung Hills Council area are elected.

The MNF, if it retains power, will take steps to implement the 2018 Memorandum of Settlement (MoS) between the then Mizoram government and the erstwhile underground outfit Hmar People's Convention (Democratic), functionaries of both parties said.

If the MNF returns to power, the government will "provide rehabilitation and other welfare benefits, including jobs, to the families of those, who lost their lives during insurgency and ex-cadres of HPC(D), the agreement said.

The government will also provide a special package to develop the Sinlung Hills Council and the two parties will also tie up in the local polls to be held next year, it said.

Earlier in August, another HPC faction led by Rohringa had formed an electoral alliance with the main opposition party, Zoram People's Movement (ZPM), in Mizoram to work together in the coming assembly elections.

A section of HPC party leaders had taken up arms for five years between 1989 and 1994, demanding an autonomous district council to be carved out from the Hmar-dominated areas in the northeastern part of Mizoram adjoining Manipur.

The rebel outfit signed a peace accord with the erstwhile Congress government in 1994, which resulted in the birth of a development council for the Hmar people.

Unhappy with the development council, the HPC (D), an off-shoot of HPC, continued the insurgent movement till it signed an accord with the Mizoram government in April 2018.

The 2018 peace accord led to the birth of SHC for the Hmar people.

The council has 12 constituencies, comprising 31 villages in the Hmar-dominated northeastern part of Mizoram and covers three assembly seats- Serlui, Tuivawl and Chalfilh.