‘Insulted us a lot’: BPF hits out at Assam BJP leader, day after leaving NDA

Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) leader Pramila Rani Brahma on Sunday sought to explain why the party left Assam’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) coalition ahead of assembly elections in the northeastern state, accusing state BJP leader and former Speaker Ranjit Das of ‘insulting us a lot.’

Also Read | Assam Assembly polls: Bodoland Peoples' Front joins Congress-led coalition

“BJP’s Ranjit Das has insulted us a lot. In the next elections, we will not be with the BJP. We have now decided to go with the Congress-led alliance,” Brahma told news agency ANI, a day after BPF Hagrama Mohilary announced his decision to leave the NDA and join the Congress-led ‘Mahajath’ or grand alliance.

“To work for Peace, Unity and Development, the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) has decided to join hands with MAHAJATH in the forthcoming Assam Assembly Election. We shall no longer maintain friendship or alliance with the BJP,” Mohilary tweeted on Saturday.

The ‘Mahajath’ comprises of the Congress, All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and the Anchalik Gana Morcha (AGM). Tejashwi Yadav of Bihar’s Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) has announced that his party, too, will join the alliance.

Assam will vote in three phases, on March 27, April 1 and April 6. Counting of votes and declaration of results is scheduled to take place on May 2. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi will arrive here on Monday to campaign for the party’s candidates.

Also Read | Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to campaign in poll-bound Assam from March 1

In the 2016 assembly elections, the NDA won 86 of Assam’s 126 constituencies, thus coming to power with a simple majority. Of these, the BJP won 60 of the 84 seats it contested on, while the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and BDF won 14 and 12 seats respectively. The BJP formed its maiden government in Assam, with Sarbananda Sonowal becoming the chief minister.

The then-ruling Congress, under party stalwart Tarun Gogoi, who passed away last year, saw its tally reduce drastically to 26, from 78 in 2011.