GUWAHATI: With just three weeks left for Assam Assembly elections, BJP ally United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) walked out of the NDA on Tuesday over “ideological differences.”
The ties between the BJP, which heads the state’s ruling coalition, and the UPPL started straining after the BJP had struck a seat-sharing deal with the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), sidelining the UPPL.
Addressing a press conference in Kokrajhar on Tuesday, UPPL vice president RN Sinha said the UPPL walked out of the NDA as it did not like the BJP-RSS agenda.
He appealed to people to reject the BJP and the NDA in the elections, warning that they would, otherwise, face dangerous situations.
“Our ideology is not similar to the BJP. We are a secular political party, while the BJP's ultimate goal is to make India a Hindu nation. Once that happens, ST, SC and OBC reservations will cease to exist in the country,” Sinha said.
“The RSS wants a BJP Chief Minister in every state. It wants the UCC (Uniform Civil Code) to be implemented in all States. The RSS agenda is to torment the Muslims,” he further alleged.
He said the UPPL would contest from 21 seats, 15 in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) and six elsewhere in the State, although it had not been officially decided yet.
The UPPL on Monday declared the names of seven candidates, including that of its president, Pramod Boro. They will contest from seats in the BTR, which has a total of 15 constituencies.
On March 9, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had told the media that the BPF would contest from 11 seats and the BJP from the remaining four seats in the BTR.
The declaration had come as a surprise to the UPPL, as the two had ruled the autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) together for five years till late last year.
“If the UPPL decides to ally, it has to 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,” Sarma had then stated.
Later that day, Boro was elected to the Rajya Sabha uncontested, and he had told the media that he was the officially declared candidate of the UPPL. He made the statement in response to reports that he was elected as an NDA candidate.
In a letter dated March 10 and addressed to BJP’s Assam president Dilip Saikia, the UPPL had sought a clarification on its status in the NDA for the Assembly election.
Saikia did not reply, prompting the UPPL to move on with its preparation for the polls.
According to observers, the BJP is facing a challenge in its bastion, Upper Assam, which consists around 25 seats. 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 the state since 2016.
The Opposition parties do not have a solid base in the BTR, which comprises the five districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Tamulpur and Udalguri, and is administered by the BTC.
The BJP-UPPL coalition was ousted from power in the BTC by a resurgent BPF that had bagged 28 of the council’s 40 seats. The UPPL and the BJP had finished with seven and five seats respectively.
With the Assembly election just a few months away, the BJP did not waste any time in reviving its alliance with the BPF.
An MLA from the BPF was inducted into the Assam ministry, and the BPF returned the favour by appointing two from the BJP as Executive Members in the BTC.
The Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is another key ally of the BJP outside the BTR.
Notably, the BJP-AGP seat-sharing deal is awaiting the BJP central leadership’s nod.
