Two political parties in Mizoram have merged amid a rush to launch new regional parties in the adjoining poll-bound Assam.
On October 7, the Mizoram People’s Conference (MPC) and the People’s Representation for Identity and Status of Mizoram (PRISM) merged to form People’s Conference Party.
The merger was declared by MPC president and former Indian Revenue Service officer Lalhmangaiha Sailo and his PRISM counterpart Vanlalruata. The two were chosen president and senior vice-president of the new party that seeks to be an alternative to both the ruling Mizo National Front (MNF) and the Opposition Congress.
“The new party will try to fulfil the aspirations of the people who have been deprived of development,” Mr. Sailo told journalists in State capital Aizawl. He panned the Socio-Economic Development Policy, the flagship programme of the MNF and the similar New Land Use Policy of the Congress earlier for doing more harm than good to the people.
One of the oldest regional parties in the Northeast, the MPC was formed in April 1975 by Brigadier Thenphunga Sailo, who became Mizoram’s second Chief Minister.
The MPC allied with another regional party, named Zoram Nationalist Party, to contest the 2018 Assembly polls under the banner of the Zoram People’s Movement. The former walked out of the alliance a year later.
The PRISM used to be an anti-corruption watchdog before graduating to a political party ahead of the 2018 State polls.
