Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma(L), President of UPPL Pramod Boro
Credit: PTI, X
Guwahati: The ruling BJP in Assam may lose one of its allies, United People's Party Liberal (UPPL) for the Assembly elections slated in March-April.
The UPPL, the party with origin in Bodoland region, is preparing to put up candidates in all 15 Assembly constituencies in Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) and 12 outside after the preliminary talks with BJP regarding seat sharing failed. Sources within UPPL told DH that the party has "almost decided" to contest the Assembly elections on its own given the saffron party's "stubborness" regarding sear sharing.
With seven MLAs, UPPL has been a partner of the BJP-led government since 2021 in the state and is also an ally of the NDA with one Lok Sabha Member. It also has one Rajya Sabha member.
"BJP has offered us just four seats for the Assembly elections. But we can not accept below seven as we have seven MLAs presently. Now it is upto to BJP to decide. If BJP does not change its decision, we will contest in all 15 seats and 12 outside BTR," said the source.
Assam has 126 Assembly seats. Voters belonging to Bodo community are deciding factor in 15 seats and plays a key role in 12 others outside BTR. Five districts, Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa, Udalguri and Tamulpur comes under BTR.
So will UPPL walk out of the NDA? "We have left the matter of the alliance to BJP leadership to decide." The party, however, is unwilling to join the Congress-led Opposition alliance given Congress's poor base in BTR.
Tussle with another ally BPF:
The ties between BJP and UPPL soared after BJP re-inducted Bodoland People's Front (BPF), UPPL's rival in BTR, into the state government. This happened after BPF stormed into power in Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) by unseating the BJP and UPPL in September last year.
Led by former President of All Bodo Students' Union, Pramod Boro, UPPL contested the 2021 Assembly elections in seat sharing arrangements with BJP and became part of the government with seven MLAs. Senior UPPL leader, UG Brahma, is a Cabinet minister in Himanta Biswa Sarma government. The party also formed the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) with BJP as an ally. But the ties soured ahead of the BTC polls last year. BJP and UPPL contested the BTC polls separately.
A BJP leader, however, said talks was still on to finalise the seats with UPPL and BPF and to keep both the parties in the NDA. Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) is another ally of the government. CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said seat sharing with AGP will soon be finalised.