Former BJP ally BPF joins Congress-led alliance before polls in Assam

Ahead of the Assam Assembly elections, the Bodoland Peoples’ Front or BPF on Saturday announced that it was quitting the NDA alliance headed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and joining the Congress-led coalition.

“To work for Peace, Unity, and Development and to bring a stable government, free from corruption in Assam, the Bodoland Peoples’ Front (BPF) has decided to join hands with MAHAJATH. BPF shall no longer maintain friendship or alliance with BJP. In the forthcoming Assam Assembly Election BPF shall work hand to hand with MAHAJATH,” BPF Chief Hagrama Mohilary said in a statement on Facebook.

The Kokrajhar-based BPF had won 12 of the state’s 126 seats in the last assembly elections and had joined the BJP-led alliance.

But the relation between the parties turned soar when BJP dumped the BPF after the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections and supported another regional force, UPPL to gain majority and together formed the new council.

The BPF, which has three ministers in the Sarbananda Sonowal-led coalition government in the state, emerged as the single-largest party in the BTC polls in December, winning 17 seats in the 40-member body.

Earlier, Assam Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has made it clear that the ruling BJP will not have any alliance with the BPF in the upcoming assembly polls in the state.

The state will see three-phased assembly polls from March 27 to April 6. The results for which will be declared on May 2.