The United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), which was voted out by the Bodo People’s Front (BPF) in last month’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) polls, said on Wednesday that it will undertake a week-long bike rally from November 1 in the BTC region as part of its efforts to make a “strong comeback” in next year’s state Assembly elections.

The UPPL was running the BTC in alliance with the BJP since 2020 but could manage only seven seats to the BPF’s 28 in the 40-member council. The BJP won five seats in the results declared on September 27.

All three parties had contested the polls separately but are part of the same alliance, while the BPF and BJP are now together in the BTC.

UPPL general secretary R. Narzary told mediapersons in Kokrajhar on Wednesday that they will undertake a week-long bike rally from one end of the BTC to the other to reconnect with the grassroots and strengthen the party from top to bottom. The decision was taken at a meeting of district leaders in Bijni on Tuesday.

He asserted that the party will stage a “strong comeback” in next year’s Assembly polls and that there was a demand to expand its footprint outside the BTC and across Assam.

The UPPL, he said, will decide its future course of action at its conference to be held in December, when mediapersons asked whether there was any move to end its alliance with the BJP-led NDA. “As of now, we are with the NDA, both in the state and at the Centre,” he said.

There were reports from Bijni that the UPPL is likely to contest 27 Assembly seats, including all the 15 in the BTC, but Narzary said these issues will be discussed in the upcoming conference. “As of now, the focus is on strengthening the party by connecting with its grassroots and staging a strong comeback,” he added.