GUWAHATI: The ruling BJP in Assam will forge an alliance with the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and not with the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) in the upcoming state elections, BJP’s face in the Northeast and Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
“The BJP will have an alliance with the UPPL in the Assembly polls. Our central leadership will soon meet the UPPL leaders and discuss the issue of alliance,” Sarma told journalists. “Hagrama Mohilary is not our ideal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is,” he asserted.
Mohilary is the BPF president who had served as the Chief Executive Member of autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) for 17 years since its creation in 2003 as a political solution to the Bodo agitation for a separate state. The BTC administers four districts such as Kokrajhar, Chirang, Udalguri and Baksa.
The BJP-UPPL alliance will be in 12 constituencies falling under the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR). They had come together, along with the Gana Shakti Party, to grab power in the BTC last month.
The BJP and the BPF had separately fought the BTC elections. In the run up-to it, the BPF alleged the BJP had a tacit understanding with the UPPL, which is headed by former student leader and incumbent BTC chief Pramod Bodo.
The BJP may have ditched the BPF but their alliance in the state government continues. The BPF is a constituent of the BJP-headed three-party ruling coalition with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) being the third entity. Despite being rejected by the BJP, three of the BPF’s 12 legislators continue to serve as Ministers. The two parties had stitched an alliance ahead of the 2016 state elections.
The BJP is livid with the BPF primarily on the issue of alleged corruption in the BTC.
“There were massive corruptions in the BTC when it was ruled by Hagrama Mohilary-led BPF. The present coalition government in the BTC will get the anomalies in the big schemes and projects probed,” Sarma said.
Ahead of the BTC elections, he had claimed that Mohilary owned 56 cars. “He (Mohilary) has 56 cars and 55 bank accounts. Even Mukesh Ambani doesn’t have that many cars,” Sarma had stated.
The BJP has indicated that its alliance with the regional AGP will continue.