Guwahati, Nov 18: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has clarified that the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) “is only an ally with the BJP within the Assembly only, and not a political ally in the government”.
“As the situation stands today, United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL, a party led by Pramod Boro) is our political ally. However, our (BJP’s) relations with BPF are cordial as it is no longer a part of the Congress-led Mahajot (‘grand alliance’). But BPF is not a political ally of the state government. The BPF legislature party is an ally with the BJP legislature party within the floor of the Assam Assembly,” Sarma said.
The clarification was made in response to a question by mediapersons after BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary had written a letter to BJP national president J.P Nadda, “demanding that BPF be re-included as an ally of BJP again.
It may be recalled that the BPF was an ally in the BJP-led government in Assam from 2016 to 2021.
The Mohilary-led party, which severed ties with the Congress-led ‘grand alliance’ (Mahajot) last year, had apparently shown interest in resuming ties with the ruling BJP in Assam once the legislature parties became allies within the Assembly in January 2022.
Mohilary had, in the letter to the BJP national president, said that the party would wholeheartedly support BJP in the next parliamentary elections and will not field any candidate against BJP in Assam.
The BPF chief however demanded a Cabinet ministerial berth in the Assam government for one of the BPF MLAs in Assam, while claiming in the letter that “BPF holds the popular support in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).”
The BPF currently has three MLAs in the 126-member Assam Assembly.
It may be mentioned that Mohilary had ruled the Sixth Schedule council in the state, Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), for 17 years before being unseated by the UPPL-BJP-led government in the Assembly elections last year.
BPF had three ministers in the council of ministers in Assam in the first BJP-led government (2016-2021) led by Sarbananda Sonowal.
A former minister and BPF senior leader, Pramila Rani Brahma, while admitting that the BPF chief had, of late, met RSS leaders and central leaders, said that the party president “wishes to be an ally with the BJP-led government as the people of BTR want him to come back to power in the council.”
BTR in western Assam comprises the five districts of Tamulpur, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Kokrajhar.