Shashi Tharoor bets big on Congress, says party will form govt in Mizoram

Aizawl, Nov 4 (PTI) Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Saturday exuded confidence that his party will form the next government in Mizoram.

Addressing a press conference here, the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala asserted that Mizoram will be the first state in the Northeast where the Congress will return to power after 2014, when the BJP formed the government at the Centre.

Mizoram was the last Congress-ruled state in the Northeast before the party lost power to the Mizo National Front (MNF) in the 2018 assembly polls.

He asserted that the Congress celebrates India's diversity and strengths, not its weaknesses.

"The Congress will oppose one nation, one language, one code and one culture. We are against uniformity. We believe that we can be united while maintaining our diversity," he said.

Speaking about the BJP, Tharoor said, "The BJP has notoriously failed to keep its promises since 2014 -- be it Rs 15 lakh in bank accounts or 2 crore jobs." Later, interacting with young professionals, he said that unemployment is one of the biggest challenges the state is facing at present.

He claimed that over 23 per cent of the Mizoram youths seeking jobs are unemployed.

Tharoor hit out at the MNF government, accusing it of failing to fulfill its pre-poll promise of generating employment.

The MNF government has created only 2,200 jobs in the last five years, he said.

The Congress MP claimed that there are more than 4,100 vacancies in the state police alone.

Elections to the 40-member Mizoram Assembly will be held in a single phase on November 7 and votes polled will be counted on December 3. PTI