Guwahati, Dec. 7: Election to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) early next year is likely to assume a new dimension with non-Bodos getting together to float a new party.

Kokrajhar Lok Sabha MP and a former rebel, Naba Kumar Sarania, popularly known as Hira Sarania, told The Telegraph today that all preparations to launch the new political party, Gana Vikash Parishad, in the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD) have been completed and the formal announcement in this regard will be made next month.

Sarania, a former 'commander' of Ulfa's 709 battalion, rewrote the electoral script in the BTAD after he won the Kokrajhar seat by a whopping margin of 3.55 lakh votes and thus became the first non-Bodo to do so. 'We have formed the central committee of the party with myself as its president and Khanin Deka as general secretary. We have also launched the membership drive. In January, we will make the formal announcement,' Sarania said.

Asked what prompted him to form a political party although he won the Lok Sabha elections as an Independent, Sarania said a political party, rather than agitating groups, can better address the grievances of the people in a sustained manner.

'The organisations that backed me in the Lok Sabha election sought solutions to the problems of people through agitation and meetings. But we need a political party to hold everybody together and address the concerns of the people in an organised and sustained way,' said Sarania.

Some of the organisations that supported Sarania in the Lok Sabha election are opposed to his move suspecting that it was born out of an understanding between Sarania and BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary, who fears the Bodoland People's Front, the party he heads and which rules BTC now, may not do well and might need support from others.

Sources said many of those in the organisations who publicly opposed Sarania's move were actually in favour of it, but were afraid to come out openly as the 'time is not yet ripe'.