Exclusive: BJP open to post-poll arrangement with Mizoram CM Lal Thanhawla, says Himanta Biswa Sarma

Speaking to India Today in Aizawl, Mizoram, Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the BJP will emerge as a "very strong political force" in the Mizoram Assembly.

The BJP has to play a balancing role: Himanta Biswa Sarma | File photo from PTI

HIGHLIGHTS

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• BJP failed to open its account in Mizoram in 2013
• Saffron party has since then undertaken high-octane campaign with PM Modi
• Sarma said Thanhawla is defaming his own state

Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) chief architect in the North East, Himanta Biswa Sarma, said that his party is open to the idea of allying with Congress leader and Chief Minister of Mizoram Lal Thanhawla in a post-poll scenario. Speaking to India Today in Aizawl, Mizoram, Sarma said that the BJP will emerge as a "very strong political force" in the Mizoram Assembly.

"The BJP has to play a balancing role. We are going to win a particular number of seats without the support of which no party can form a government whether it is Lal Thanhawla, the MNF [Mizo National Front] or ZPM [Zoram People's Movement]," Sarma said.

"I am not saying we will have anything to do with the Congress. Let me emphasise, if Lal Thanhawla ji wants to form a government in his individual capacity, anything is possible," he said.

WILL BJP TRY AND SPLIT CONGRESS IN CASE OF HUNG ASSEMBLY?

"You don't have to break the Congress; the Mizoram Congress is a different political entity. In the Mizoram Congress, Rahul Gandhi is not the president, Lal Thanhawla is. From the times of Indira Gandhi, the Congress in Mizoram has been considered a separate entity from the AICC [All India Congress Committee]," claims Sarma.