GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam has finalised its seat-sharing deal with ally Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) for the Assembly elections, which are expected in April.
The alliance is for the 15 seats in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). The BJP did not enter into a seat-sharing arrangement with another Bodoland ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL).
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told the media on Monday that the BPF would contest from 11 seats and the BJP from four.
“We decided that the BPF, being the largest party in Bodoland, will contest from 11 seats,” he said.
“If the UPPL decides to forge an alliance, it will be with the BPF on the 11 seats and not with us (BJP). As we are contesting from only four seats, there is no scope for a seat-sharing understanding with the UPPL,” the Chief Minister further stated.
The UPPL said it would go solo. “The UPPL will contest from all 15 seats,” party president and former Chief Executive Member of the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) Pramod Boro told TNIE.
The 15 seats in the BTR are crucial for the NDA considering the anti-incumbency factor against the BJP which has been in power in Assam since 2016. The non-NDA parties do not have a solid base in the BTR which is administered by the BTC. The BTR comprises the five districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Tamulpur and Udalguri.
The BJP-UPPL coalition ruled the BTC till late last year, until being ousted from power by a resurgent BPF that had bagged 28 of the council’s 40 seats.
Meanwhile, Sarma said the BJP’s seat-sharing deal with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) had been more or less finalised.
“We have apprised our central leadership about the seats that we should give to the AGP. We will inform (AGP) after receiving an approval from Delhi,” the Chief Minister further stated.