AIZAWL, April 26 - Reports of BJP councillors forming a post-poll alliance with Congress councillors to form a coalition council in the Chakma autonomous district council on Thursday took everyone by surprise, for the two national parties are sworn enemies.
It is now clear that the decision to forge an alliance with Congress was made by the BJP councillors on their own, without any approval from either the State or national BJP leaders.
�The BJP national headquarters would never allow an alliance with Indian National Congress party. The decision of the BJP councillors in the Chakma ADC to form an alliance with the Congress councillors was not approved by the BJP State and national headquarters,� State BJP president Prof JV Hluna said.
Yesterday, a soft copy of attendance sheet of both Congress and BJP councillors and a letter to the secretary of Chakma ADC by the elected leader of the United Legislative Party, formed by the BJP and Congress councillors, by Shanti Jiban Chakma, elected leader of the legislative party, staking claim to form the Council, went viral.
Two BJP leaders arrived in Aizawl today and had a meeting with the State leaders and BJP councillors in Aizawl. The outcome of the meeting could not be known at the time of writing this report. However, it is very unlikely that the proposed Congress-BJP alliance would materialise.
Encroachers jailed: Ten heads of family of Dampui South village, which the Mizoram Government has proposed to add to Thorangtlang Wildlife Sanctuary in southern part of the State, have been jailed.
�The heads of ten families, including one woman, were arrested on Tuesday and lodged in Lunglei district jail on the same day,� sources said.
The government had issued an eviction order on Dampui villagers, offering a Rs 10 lakh package for rehabilitation. While most of the families have moved out, 12 families refused to obey the government order, insisting that it is their ancestral land, their only land and cannot leave.
While one family head was away at the time of arrest, one had died. Therefore, only ten family heads were arrested. The families, like they have been doing for many years, cleared the forest for jhum cultivation this year. They said the forest which the villagers prepared for their jhums was not inside the sanctuary but falls under Dampa village council jurisdiction.
Deputy Conservator of Forests said the accused were charged under sections 27, 29, 30, 32 of Wildlife (Protection) Act 1972.
He said a complaint was lodged to Lunglei district chief judicial magistrate, following which Bunghmun police arrested them.
