Guwahati: The BJP virtually dumped Sunday one of its coalition partners in Assam, the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF). The saffron party picked up a new ally to gain majority and rule the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC). The BTC is a self-governing body in the Bodo-dominated areas of Assam.
The BPF has three ministers in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led coalition government in Assam. It emerged as the single-largest party in the just concluded BTC polls, winning 17 seats in the 40-member body.
BPF president Hagrama Mohilary said his party repeatedly appealed to the BJP to follow the ‘coalition’ norms. It said it had requested the BJP to help it to form a ‘government’ in the BTC. However, the BJP ignored the pleas.
The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) won 12 seats in the BTC elections. The BJP nine, while the Congress and the Gana Suraksha Party (GSP), headed by Lok Sabha MP Naba Sarania, got one each.
Senior BJP leader and Union Home Minister Amit Shah congratulated the UPPL for winning 12 seats and also termed the party an ‘ally’ in his tweet. Shortly after, Chief Minister Sonowal announced that UPPL chief Pramod Boro will be the new chief executive member (CEM) in the BTC. The BPF and UPPL are considered rivals in the Bodo-dominated areas. Before the elections there was no pre-poll alliance among the BJP and UPPL.
“Since we are part of the state government in Dispur, I appeal to the BJP to help the BPF to form the government in the BTC. We have not broken the alliance with the BJP and it should follow the coalition,” Mohilary, told a press conference in Kokrajhar, the headquarters of the BTC. However, the BJP ignored the pleas. It should be stated here that Mohilary had been the CEM of the BTC for the past 17 years
Soon, the Union Home Minister tweeted, “NDA secured a comfortable majority in Assam BTC election. Congratulations to our ally UPPL, CM @sarbanandsonwal, @himantabiswa, @RanjeetkrDass and @BJP4Assam unit.”
Shah added: “I thank people of Assam for their continued faith in PM @narendramodi’s resolve towards a developed North East.”
Later, at a press conference, Sonowal announced that the BJP, UPPL and GSP have joined hands for the BTC. He stated that UPPL chief Boro will be the new CEM.
The BJP and BPF, along with the AGP, fought the 2016 Assembly elections together. The BPF got 12 seats, winning all the constituencies where it had put up candidates.
BPF’s lone Rajya Sabha member Biswajit Daimari, before he formally joined the BJP last month, had been supporting the Narendra Modi government on different occasions in the upper house.
This is the second time that the BJP broke its ties with a coalition partner in recent times. In 2018, the saffron party pulled the plug on the Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP government in Jammu and Kashmir.