The guerrilla movement lasted for sixteen years till the Mizo Accord was signed in 1986, by which he became the Chief Minister of the new state of Mizoram.
He won the first Mizoram Legislative Assembly election under statehood in 1987, and continued at the Chief Minister office for another year.
As an outcome of his talks, between 1963 and 1966 East Pakistan provided military training and shelter to Mizo fighters when they needed exile.
[6] On the night of 28 February 1966, the MNF launched a daring and ambitious attack on the district's major towns, resulting in the March 1966 Mizo National Front uprising.
For the next 20 years, violence continued in the Mizo hills with the fighters camping in Mizoram (India) and East Pakistan.
[7] During his guerrilla life, Laldenga was arrested on several occasions and spent 10 years in exile, mostly in Bangladesh and Pakistan.
[4] Laldenga would host a parade in Aizawl on 5 July 1986 to be popularly received on the 25km road from Tuireil airfield with white flags, Mizo slogans and music.
The parade had MNF soldiers wearing the military uniform and armed with guns which created skepticism of critics and led to Congress convincing the lieutenant governor to halt such practices.
[12] Laldenga's speeches of Greater Mizoram also led to press coverage in which Rajiv Gandhi affirmed the peace accord's success.
Leaders from Tripura, Manipur and Assam complained to Rajiv Gandhi who reprimanded Laldenga's speeches for inflaming tensions and possibly irking Bangladesh and Burma.
[12] Laldenga would subsequently instruct his finance minister Rualchinna to head to the MNF headquarters at Parva on the border of the Arakan Hills to bring out the remaining rebels and collect all the arms to surrender.
The discovery of weapon caches and incriminating documents led to the arrests of six members of the People's Conference in Manipur and commanders in exile.
Laldenga treated the spoilers of the peace accord with harsh punishments to distance his connection from the offshoot organization.
The MLA was tied to the People's Conference under T. Sailo who was assumed to be responsible in a plot to discredit Laldenga's administration.
Laldenga's rise to power had encouraged zealous Christians to attempt forceful conversions of Chakma individuals.
The Lakher district and council claimed the MNF halted the grants to their administration and were unable to let them pay the salaries of their government employees.
Laldenga's attempt to abolish the district councils of the minorities and remove funding of minorites in Mizoram was perceived as hostility.