KOKRAJHAR, Jan 17 - In the run-up to the State Assembly elections, Rabiram Narzary�s Bodoland People�s Progressive Front (BPPF) formally merged with the BTC chief Hagrama Mohilary-led Bodoland People�s Front (BPF) in a grand unification rally at Thulangapuri, Dotma in Kokrajhar district today.
The merger not only strengthened BPF�s efforts to build its base before the Assembly elections, but also brought Rabiram Narzary back into the limelight.
Narzary, with general secretary Dilu Sharma and 10 district committees of the party, besides hundreds of supporters, today merged with the BPF in the presence of Hagrama Mohilary and other senior leaders.
Rajya Sabha MP Biswajit Daimary, former Transport Minister Chandan Brahma, former Agriculture Minister Pramila Rani Brahma, among others, also attended the programme.
�I am delighted to announce that Rabiram Narzary�s BPPF today merged with BPF. We welcome this positive development; with the joining of senior Bodo leader and former ABSU president Rabiram Narzary, BPF has become stronger,� said Mohilary.
Announcing Narzary�s name as the BPF candidate for the 29 Kokrajhar West LAC and Milon Boro for the Bhabanipur LAC, Mohilary further said that BPF, on its own, is going to contest all the 16 seats of BTAD area and peace and development would remain the main poll planks in this election.
�Respecting people�s will, and to ensure security and unity among various communities, I have decided to join the Hagrama-led BPF. From now on, we shall work together for a model BTC as brothers, forgetting the past,� said Narzary while formally dissolving his party.
Narzary laid stress on a peaceful political atmosphere and coexistence, taking into confidence different communities living in the region and all-round development of BTAD. Expressing happiness for getting a BPF ticket, he appealed to all the factions to join BPF in the greater interest of the people of BTC.
It may be mentioned that Narzary became the BPPF president when it was formed in 2005. However, after the first election to the Bodoland Territorial Council in the same year, the party suffered a vertical split owing to differences in ideology, and turned into two factions � BPPF(Rabiram) headed by Narzary and BPPF (Hagrama) headed by Mohilary, the chairman of the erstwhile Boro Liberation Tiger.
