Governor invites Lal Thanhawla to form govt

AIZAWL: Two days after being re-elected to power, Mizoram's state PCC chief and Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Lal Thanhawla on Thursday was invited to form the next government in the state by governor Vakkom B. Purushothaman.
Lal Thanhawla was elected as the leader during a meeting of the newly-elected Congress legislators on Wednesday at the Congress Bhavan in Aizawl.
The Congress, which has been ruling the state since 2008, won the 2013 assembly elections by securing 34 seats in 40-member state legislature. The main opposition - Mizo National Front (MNF) - was cut down to size as it could win only five seats and Mizoram People's Conference (MPC) secured only one berth.
When Lal Thanhawla and his team of ministers are sworn-in on Saturday, he would begin his fifth term as the state chief minister. Lal Thanhawla first became the chief minister of Mizoram in 1984 when the Congress party, he led, swept the polls defeating the then ruling People's Conference (PC) party led by then chief minister Brig. Thenphunga Sailo.
He vacated his chief minister's chair in favour of the late erstwhile underground Mizo National Front (MNF) leader Laldenga in the MNF-Congress coalition interim government in the later part of 1986.
Lal Thanhawla returned to power in 1989 after toppling the MNF government led by Laldenga which ruled the state for about 19 months. The Congress retained power in 1993 after forging alliance with Brig. T. Sailo's Mizoram Janata Dal (MJD) and Lal Thanhawla continued as chief minister.
The Congress party was defeated by the MNF in 1998 with Lal Thanhawla failing to make to the assembly and was exiled into political wilderness for five years and the MNF continued its rule from 2003.
He returned in 2008 and became the chief minister for the fourth time and again in the 2013 November 25 polls.