The BJP, along with its new allies United People’s Party Liberal and Gana Suraksha Party, will head the next Bodoland Territorial Council in Assam after governor Jagdish Mukhi accepted the three-party “post-poll coalition” claim to form the autonomous body on Sunday night.

Although the Bodoland People’s Front emerged as the single largest party winning 17 of the 40 seats despite a stiff challenge from its rivals, its hopes of a fourth straight term fizzled out after the BJP rebuffed BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary’s appeal to support its bid to form the BTC since they were still allies in the state government.

Debutant UPPL won 12 seats, BJP 9 and GSP 1 in the two-phase polls held on December 7 and 10. While the Congress-AIUDF alliance won only one seat, raising questions about the continuation of the alliance in the Assembly polls.

A delegation of the BJP-UPPL-GSP combine formally staked claim to form the next council on Sunday evening after a series of meetings since Saturday night decided that UPPL president Pramod Boro would lead the council.

Traditionally a governor invites the single largest party to form the council/state government but Mukhi, according to sources, accepted the claim because the UPPL-BJP-GSP coalition has “demonstrated more than enough through” its meetings, media interactions and a visit to the Raj Bhavan on Sunday that it enjoys the majority in a hung house.

As Mukhi was out of station, the coalition leaders “submitted” support letters to the governor declaring “full support” to the formation of the council under Boro to the commissioner and secretary to the governor, S.S. Meenakshi Sundaram.

A Raj Bhavan statement on Sunday night said the next council will be formed on December 15.

BPF, an ally of the BJP in the state government since 2016, responded to the BJP’s rebuff by skipping a cabinet meeting on Sunday afternoon. Senior BPF leader Pramila Rani Brahma, one of three party ministers in the BJP-led government, told The Telegraph that party leaders will be meeting in Kokrajhar on Monday and decide on the party’s future course of action.

The BJP’s move of ignoring BPF’s plea once again reflected its “expansionist design” by “cornering” smaller allies, political observers said. They cited the recent Bihar polls to show how it edged past its long-term ally Janata Dal United.

In the 2015 BTC polls, the BPF had won 19 seats, the AIUDF 4, People’s Coordination for Democratic Rights (PCDR) 7, Independents 9 and BJP 1. The BJP gained 8 seats this time round.

“The BPF had grown in strength when it was an ally of the Congress at Dispur for 15 years but the BJP has not only ended BPF’s monopoly but has also emerged as a key player in the Bodo belt, in less than 5 years. Something smaller parties like the UPPL and the AGP have to take note of. They cannot match the BJP’s aggressive and sustained campaign, something which changed the BTC poll outcome,” an observer said.

Architect Sarma

Assam cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma is seen as the architect of the BJP’s growth in the BTC. His high decibel campaign that focussed on corruption during the BPF regime and easing of rules for buying and selling of land in the BTC impacted the outcome.

Sarma said they will honour the state-level alliance with the BPF till the 2021 polls but there can be no alliance in the council since they fought for parivartan (change) like the UPPL and the GSP. He has described the outcome as “a new dawn in BTR (Bodoland Territorial Region)”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president J.P. Nadda were among those who hailed the victory in BTC. Modi tweeted, “NDA is committed to serving the people of the Northeast. I congratulate our ally UPPL and @BJP4Assam for securing a majority in the Assam BTC election, and wish them the very best in fulfilling people’s aspirations. I thank the people for placing their faith in the NDA.”

The BJP will now control all the Sixth Schedule councils in Assam since coming to power in 2016. It is heading the Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council since 2017 and the North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council since 2019.

The BJP’s showing in the BTC is set to boost its prospects in the Assembly polls. Being part of the BTC, it will have more than a say in the sharing of the 14 Assembly seats in the Bodo belt, including 12 in the BTC. The BPF had been winning the BTC Assembly seats since 2011. These seats will help it offset any setback it may suffer in Upper Assam in the 2021 polls.

Congress-AIUDF

The BJP’s high decibel campaign not only split the Bodo votes between the BPF and the UPPL but also saw it eat into the non-Bodo and minority votes of the GSP and the AIUDF which drew a blank despite winning four seats in 2015.

The Congress-AIUDF alliance, which had contested 20 seats but managed to win only one, has already become a cause for concern in the Congress circles. “The Congress won only one seat of the 13 it contested. People have rejected the alliance. We should have at least got four-five seats, at least in the minority areas,” one of them said.
In 2015, the Congress had failed to open its account.

A large section within the Congress feels there should not be any open alliance with the AIUDF because it may cost the party dear in Upper Assam. “As it is we won about 7 seats out of 40-plus contested in 2016. It cannot get worse than this if we contest alone instead of losing all these seats too by tying up with the AIUDF,” one of them said.

The ruling BJP calls the AIUDF a party of migrants and attacked its chief Badruddin Ajmal obliquely during the campaign by accusing the Ajmal Trust of receiving funds from foreign agencies linked to terror.

“We don’t know what the BJP will come up with during the Assembly campaign. We need to build a narrative on the anti-CAA movement, economic hardships and development issues instead of defending our alliance with the AIUDF,” a senior PCC leader said.

PCC insiders said the issue of the alliance will be discussed during AICC general secretary in-charge of Assam, Jitendra Singh’s, visit after next week’s Tiwa Autonomous Council elections where the Congress is pitted directly against the BJP in most seats.