Aizawl: Citing old age, former Mizoram chief minister and Mizo National Front (MNF) president Zoramthanga on Monday said that he will soon retire from active politics.
Mizoram’s opposition MNF on Monday inaugurated the party office in Aizawl after a Christmas and New Year break.
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Speaking on the occasion, Zoramthanga, who will turn 80 in July this year, said that he discussed retiring from party president and active politics with party senior vice president Tawnluia (80) and both agreed that the MNF party should continue without them.
“We have discussed the matter and we agreed that the party should continue without our presence as both of us have attained 80 years. We have also informed our party leaders about our retirement,” Zoramthanga said while addressing party workers.
He said that party leaders will soon bring out a new arrangement.
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The MNF chief said that the current term of the MNF leaders has already expired and he and Tawnluia have requested party leaders not to include them among office bearers.
Zoramthanga had on December 5 resigned as the MNF president after the party suffered defeat in the assembly polls.
However, his resignation was rejected by the party.
MNF suffered a heavy defeat from the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) in assembly polls held on November 7, winning only 10 seats, down from its tally of 26 in the 2018 assembly polls.
In his resignation letter sent to Tawnluia, Zoramthanga had said he took moral responsibility as the president of the party for its poll debacle.
“The MNF fails to win the state assembly polls. In this regard, I take moral responsibility as party chief. Considering that it is my obligation as the MNF president, I do hereby tender resignation from the president post and kindly request you to accept the same,” Zoramthanga had said in his resignation letter.
The national core committee and political affairs committee of MNF rejected Zoramthanga’s resignation and agreed that he would continue in the post.
The committees lauded his gesture of taking moral responsibility for the party’s defeat but said that the election outcome was the collective responsibility of the party and not of the president alone.
Zoramthanga has been holding the post of MNF president for more than 30 years since 1990 after the death of Laldenga, who founded the party and spearheaded a secessionist movement between 1966 and 1986.
He joined the underground movement by the MNF in 1966 and became secretary to the president (Laldenga) when the outfit moved to East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) in 1969.
Zoramthanga was given the responsibility of vice president of MNF and became one of the most trusted persons of President Laldenga in 1979.
Zoramthanga has so far successfully contested assembly polls six times in 1987, 1989, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2018.
He has served as chief minister for three terms from 1998 to 2008 and 2018 to 2023.