The writing was on the walls. After the BJP dumped their erstwhile ally Bodoland People's Front (BPF), instead forming an alliance with rival UPPL and GSP for the latest elections to the Bodoland Territorial Council, the latter had only one direction to go. On Sunday, news was confirmed that the BPF will join hands with the six-party opposition grand alliance headed by Congress.
The Congress had earlier formed grand alliance with AIUDF, CPI, CPI(M), CPI(ML) and Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM) to fight the assembly polls against the BJP-helmed National Democratic Alliance (NDA). On Saturday, the BPF and Lalu Prasad's RJD joined hands. The BJP will be going to the Assam polls with allies Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and United Peoples Party Liberal (UPPL).
The BPF, headed by ex-militant Hagrama Mohilary, represents the Bodo community who are settled largely in the Udalguri-Kokrajhar belt of northwestern Assamese border regions. In the last assembly elections, the BPF had won 12 of the 126 seats.
At the same time, the Congress will also be boosted by the presence of RJD, who is eying to make a dent into the Hindi-speaking votes that traditionally have been going to the BJP's kitty in Assam. There are around five per cent Hindi-speaking people in Assam who have been from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Why did BJP dump BPF
A lot of factors play a role in the decision, none more so than internal rivalry in the BJP between Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and the northeast strongman Himanta Biswa Sarma. Mohilary had, in an interview with The Hindu, said: "I had during a North East Democratic Alliance meeting said Sonowal should be the CM again. Himanta Sarma has since been trying to destroy my political career."
Proud to work with BPF, says Congress
"To work for peace, unity and development the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF) has decided to join hands with mahajath in the forthcoming Assam assembly election," BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary tweeted. The BPF will no longer maintain any friendly relation or alliance with the ruling BJP, he added.
Welcoming the decision, Congress campaign committee Chairman Pradyut Bordoloi said: "The Asom Basao Ahok Yatra has had such massive impact across the state that our old friends, the Bodoland Peoples Front, could see which way the wind is blowing. Congress is coming and we are proud to partner with the BPF."
The Congress, which was in power for 15 years in Assam since 2001, has been making a determined effort to throw the BJP out of power in Assam. Of the total 126 seats, elections to 47, mostly in Upper Assam, will be held on March 27, while 39, in Barak Valley and Central Assam will go to polls on April 1 and voting in the remaining 40 seats in Lower Assam will be held on April 6.
