‘No tie-up with anyone’: BPF shuts door on alliance talks ahead of ABSU’s deadline
Mohilary questions ABSU’s authority in setting deadlines, claims student body aligns closely with UPPL interests
A file image of Hagrama Mohillary (Centre) along with other leaders. (AT Photo)
Kokrajhar, August 11: Two days before the All Bodo Students’ Union’s (ABSU) deadline for talks on forging a united regional front, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) chief Hagrama Mohilary has declared that his party will contest the upcoming Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) polls alone.
“BPF is not creating any alliance with anyone. Anyone means anyone – be it Congress, UPPL, BJP, so on and so forth. This time we will get an absolute majority and form our government in BTC,” Mohilary told reporters on Sunday.
The ABSU, along with the Bodo Sahitya Sabha (BSS), Ex-BLT Welfare Council, and Ex-NDFB Welfare Association, has been pressing for an alliance between the BPF and the ruling United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) before August 12 to present a united front for the development of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
However, Mohilary questioned the student body’s role in issuing deadlines to a political party, alleging ABSU was aligned with the UPPL. He also took a dig at UPPL chief and current Chief Executive Member (CEM) Pramod Boro, saying his days in office were “numbered”.
“If the polls are announced on August 25, he has about 15 days left in this reign,” Mohilary said, adding that the BPF represents “members of all communities” in the BTR.
The former CEM also hinted at strains within the National Democratic Alliance, saying, “If the BJP wants to fight the polls separately, why is the UPPL tense about it? Now they are looking for me and want an alliance with BPF.”
On the argument that regional unity was essential to keep national parties at bay, Mohilary recalled that it was the BPF that first proposed such an arrangement in 2020. “We wrote to ABSU back then, but later UPPL and BJP struck a deal in a hotel in Guwahati while I was in Kokrajhar and kept in the dark,” he said.
Interestingly, a day earlier, Mohilary had signalled that he had “no objection” to unification talks and expressed willingness to meet community organisations pushing for the alliance, provided political agreements were based on written commitments rather than verbal promises.
With the ABSU’s self-imposed deadline just 24 hours away, the political temperature in the BTR is set to rise, as both sides dig in ahead of the formal BTC poll announcement.