GUWAHATI
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has left one of its three tribal council-based allies in poll-bound Assam guessing over its position in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
The BJP abandoned the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), its pre-2016 electoral ally, to befriend the People’s Liberal Party (UPPL) ahead of the 2021 parliamentary elections. The BJP “remarried” the BPF months before the 2026 mandate, without “divorcing” the UPPL.
The BPF and UPPL are bitter rivals in the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), which governs the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) with 15 assembly seats that often prove crucial whenever the verdict is broken in Assam.
In 2020, the UPPL ended the 17-year rule of the BPF in BTR with the BJP as its ally. The alliance advanced to the 2021 State Assembly, but the BJP wasted no time in welcoming the BPF back into the NDA after defeating the UPPL in the September 2025 BTC polls.
On March 10, UPPL general secretary Raju Kumar Narzary wrote to State BJP president Dilip Saikia to know about his party’s position in the NDA for the upcoming assembly elections by March 12.
“We are yet to get a response,” UPPL president Pramod Boro told The Hindu.
The letter was blasted a day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma told reporters that the BPF would contest 11 seats and the BJP the remaining four seats in BTR.
“BPF has got more seat share as it is the largest party in BTR. If UPPL decides to go into alliance, it has to be with BPF and not with BJP. With only four seats, we have no scope for a seat sharing deal with UPPL,” he said.
Mr. Boro, who was uncontested to the Rajya Sabha a few hours later, said he was the official declared candidate of the UPPL and not others. He also said that his party will contest all the 15 seats in the BTR, indicating a return as the BJP did not form an alliance in the 40-seat BTC during the 2025 elections.
Neither the BJP nor the Congress has a strong base in BTR, which covers five districts – Baksa, Chirang, Kokrajhar, Tamulpur and Udalguri.
The BJP’s third tribal council-based ally is the Rabha Hasong Joutha Mancha, which holds sway in several constituencies straddling the autonomous Rabha Hasong council in southwest Assam.
The Asom Gana Parishad is an ally of the BJP in constituencies outside the tribal council areas. The BJP and its allies are expected to release their list of candidates after the BJP central leadership approves the seat-sharing formula.
Published – 17 March 2026 03:17 IST
