Assam polls: Grand alliance advised to target ‘realistic’ 70 seats

Hours after severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and becoming a member of the Congress-led ‘mahajath’ or grand alliance, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) chief Hagrama Mohilary stated it might be extra reasonable to target 70 seats to kind the following authorities in Assam.

Before the BPF grew to become its seventh constituent, the grand alliance had eyed greater than 100 of Assam’s 126 Assembly seats in response to the BJP’s “Mission 100”.

“We need to win 64 seats to form the government. Since it is unnecessary to win more seats, let’s ensure 70 seats and let the others share the remaining seats. It can be difficult to manage if we win more than necessary. I am sure we can attain simple majority,” Mr. Mohilary advised journalists on Sunday.

He had just about taken centre-stage amongst leaders of the seven allies who addressed the media.

Apart from the BPF and the Congress, the grand alliance constituents are the minority-based All India United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India, CPI (Marxist), CPI (Marxist-Leninist) and the regional Anchalik Gana Morcha. (*70*) Rashtriya Janata Dal is predicted to be part of the alliance.

Mr. Mohilary stated countering BJP’s slogans of their language would serve no goal.

“Let us not repeat their absurd claims (of winning 100 seats). Unlike some parties, we will not have to buy support from others to form the government. We can form the government without bribes because people want the BJP’s misrule to end,” he stated.

(*70*) BPF chief and former head of the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) additionally panned Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma for resorting to horse-trading within the December 2020 BTC polls.

“We don’t want to form the government adopting the methods Himanta Biswa Sarma used after the BTC elections. He abducted elected representatives, kept them confined in hotels and formed the government there. As a consequence, they have already started fighting among themselves,” he stated.

(*70*) BPF, which dominated 40-member BTC for 17 years, had emerged because the single-largest get together within the council polls with 17 seats. But its rival United People’s Party Liberal (12 seats), the BJP (10, after an elected Congress member defected) and the Gana Suraksha Party (one) cast a post-poll alliance to kind the council.

(*70*) BPF was a minor ally within the Congress-led authorities in Assam for nearly two phrases till it converted to the BJP forward of the 2016 State polls. It had received 12 of the 13 seats it had contested to assist the BJP-led coalition get a complete of 86 seats.

(*70*) relationship between the BPF and the BJP soured after Mr. Mohilary had in a North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) assembly backed Sarbananda Sonowal to be the Chief Minister of Assam after the 2021 polls. (*70*) NEDA is an anti-Congress entrance of regional events helmed by the BJP.