File photo of Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi
Bodoland People's Front, or the BPF, today snapped its eight-year-old alliance with the Congress in Assam, amid indications that it was planning to join hands with Narendra Modi's BJP, which registered an impressive performance in the state in the Lok Sabha polls.
In the 126-member Assam assembly, the BPF has a strength of 12 and one nominee in the Gogoi cabinet. However, relations between BPF and the Congress has been an uneasy one after the riots in Kokrajhar, an area controlled by BPF.
The party lost its stronghold of Kokrajhar in the Lok Sabha polls and since then a section of the Bodo leadership wants to move away from the Congress.
It's departure will not pose any threat to the Tarun Gogoi government, but is certain to add to the Chief Minister's trouble.
The timing of the BPF's pull out is also significant as dissidence against Gogoi is at his peak. More than 45 Congress MLAs, led by the state education and health minister, Himanta Biswa Sarma, have reportedly asked for a change of leadership.
Interestingly, Sharma and the BPF chief Hagrama Mohillary are known to share a close relationship.
The move also adds to the perception that the Congress was a sinking ship in the north-eastern state. In the 2011 assembly polls, the Congress won 78 seats, but in the Lok Sabha polls, it had to rest content with only 3 of the 14 seats in the state.
Riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, the BJP, on the other hand, snatched victories in half of the 14 Lok Sabha constituencies.
The BPF, justifying its decision break its alliance with the Congress, accused it of "non-cooperation" in development of the Bodoland Territorial Area Districts (BTAD). "The present Congress government has not cooperated at all with us in all round development of the BTAD. There is no point in continuing in this government if we cannot fulfil the aspirations of the Bodo people," BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary told reporters in Kokrajhar.
Asked whether the BPF would join the BJP with any eye on the 2016 assembly polls, Mr Mohilary said the party had not yet decided about it.
The BPF has one representative in the Gogoi government. Chandan Brahma, who holds the portfolios of transport, tourism and welfare of plain tribes and backward classes in BTAD Areas, is scheduled to put in his papers tomorrow.