The Hagrama Mohilary-led BPF seems to have returned to the good books of the BJP ahead of the by-elections to five Assembly seats in Assam.
BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary has said that his party and the BJP are still ‘friends’.
He asked the supporters of the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) to vote for the candidate of the BJP in the by-polls to the Bhawanipur seat in Assam.
BJP has fielded Phanidhar Talukdar as its candidate for the by-elections to the Bhawanipur constituency.
Phanidhar Talukdar had recently quit the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) and joined the BJP.
In the Assam Assembly elections held earlier this year, Phanidhar Talukdar had registered a massive victory while contesting with an AIUDF ticket.
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“We have made our intentions clear in regards to an alliance with the BJP. It is now on the BJP to announce it formally,” BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary said during an election campaign in Assam’s Gossaigaon.
However, Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has rubbished BPF chief Hagrama Mohilary’s ‘friends’ remark, clarifying that the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL) is the only ally of the BJP in the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR).
The BPF had contested the Assam Assembly elections earlier this year as part of the Congress-led Grand Alliance after a fall-out with the BJP ahead of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections in 2020.