Poll-bound Mizoram’s roads have given the Bharatiya Janata Party the stick to beat its “ally” Mizo National Front (MNF) with.
The ruling MNF is a partner in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) but the two parties are rivals in Mizoram. The two parties are said to have started drifting apart over the past few months, specifically after the ethnic clashes in the BJP-ruled Manipur five months ago made more than 12,000 Kuki-Zo people take shelter in Mizoram.
Addressing a rally for the BJP’s Mizoram unit president Vanlalhmuaka in Dampa Assembly constituency on Monday, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and senior party leader Nitin Gadkari said the MNF government’s indifference to a couple of vital road projects have delayed infrastructure development that could have generated jobs in the region.