Guwahati, Sept 1: With the crucial Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections slated for September 22, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) appears to be carefully balancing its stance between two key regional forces—the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) and the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF).
The saffron party, which is preparing to contest the 40-member council on its own, faces a tricky task. The BJP is currently allied with UPPL in the BTC but had earlier partnered with the BPF, which ruled the council from its inception in 2003 until 2020.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, who had earlier sounded confident about the BJP’s prospects of forming the council independently, has notably avoided direct attacks on either UPPL or BPF. Party insiders suggest this is a deliberate strategy to keep the door open for possible post-poll alliances—not just in the BTC but also in Assam, where assembly elections are due next year.
In the 2020 BTC elections, the BPF emerged as the single largest party with 17 seats, while BJP secured nine and UPPL bagged 12. The BJP and UPPL later stitched up a post-poll alliance to form the council. That same year, a new Bodoland Accord was signed with all four factions of the National Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB), the All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU), and others. UPPL chief Pramod Boro, a former ABSU president, played a pivotal role in the process.
This time, however, BJP is testing its strength by contesting without allies. The outcome will be closely watched, given the political weight of the region: BTC controls 15 Assembly constituencies directly, while another 26 outside the council have significant Bodo voter influence.
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