Kokrajhar, April 5: Once they fought for the Bodo cause together. They still remain committed to the Bodo cause but will take on each other to achieve their ends ? a developed Bodoland ? in these elections.

So much so that the electoral battle between former All Bodo Students? Union (Absu) president Rabiram Narzary and sitting MLA Pramila Rani Brahma for the Kokrajhar East Assembly constituency has been billed as the contest of the Bodo heartland.

Times have surely changed for the duo. And the Assembly election in the Bodo belt on April 10 is now set to redefine Bodo political space.

After all, Pramila was elected to the state Assembly thrice in a row as a consensus candidate of all the Bodo social organisations under the initiative of Absu and its former leader Narzary.

Together, they formed the Bodoland People?s Progressive Front (BPPF), after the successful peace accord with the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT). The two were inseparable till differences over power sharing in the Bodo Territorial Council (BTC) split them last year.

The duo is now contesting as candidates of the two BPPF factions, each proclaiming itself as the real party. Even the Election Commission is yet to decide who to recognise.

The contest, as in any other seat in the Bodoland area, assumes importance because of the impact it is likely to have on government formation in the event of a hung Assembly, which appears more and more likely, according to the pundits.

The Rabiram faction of the BPPF is with the Asom Gana Parishad, while the faction led by former BLT chief Hagrama Mohilary is known for its closeness to the ruling dispensation.

But Kokrajhar seems to have forgotten to dress for the occasion. In the main thoroughfare of the district headquarters town, there are more posters of a recent release of a Bodo album by Zubeen Garg ? Pame, than that of the candidates.

The procession brought out by the Rabiram faction on Sunday with placards like ?We want peace?, ?Stop atrocities? and other such words resemble more of a silent march in protest against army atrocities that had been a common feature till last year in the town in turmoil for long.

Even the houses of both candidates wear a quiet look, bereft of any party flags, festoons and banners. There is no outward sign of any royal battle in the offing.

But the look is deceptive. Interacting with the candidates, one immediately realises it is no longer a one-sided contest of ?consensus days? when Independent candidates were put up by Bodo organisations.

?This time I am realising what an election means. In the last three terms, I was a consensus candidate of the Bodo organisations and opinions were not so sharply divided,? Pramila Brahma said.

Earlier, the cause of the Bodo movement dominated everything else.Rajya Sabha MP Urkhao Brahma said nobody bothered about development and other issues.

Priorities have changed, this time around. The same Narzary, under whose leadership the Absu had put up Pramila as an Independent candidate last time, accuses her of corruption and not doing enough for the constituency in the past 15 years.

?Now that the movement is over, people are focusing on development. Since she (Brahma) did not do anything for the constituency, people will reject her this time,? Narzary said. Brahma countered this, saying it was because of the Absu?s interference that she could not work. In the district headquarters, which lacks basic infrastructure of a modern town, development issues getting priority is a welcome change.

But the common man is apprehensive. Amid the bitter charges and counter-charges, he fears the ?royal battle? might permanently fragment the cohesive Bodo society.