GUWAHATI: The Assam BJP on Thursday said its five-year partnership with Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) will not be renewed on expiry of the term of the present alliance in January next, implying that the two allies will not fight the 2021 assembly election as friends but as rivals.
However, BJP’s ties with its second partner since 2016, Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), will continue in the coming elections, cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. “Our alliance with BPF is for five years only. After five years, we will not renew the alliance with BPF. So, in 2021 assembly elections and in the BTC polls, we are fighting alone. In between this period till then, whether it means end of the alliance or something else, it is for BPF to read the writings on the wall,” Himanta added.
The issue of the alliance with BPF was scheduled to be re-examined at the meeting of BJP’s national panel for Assam election in New Delhi on Friday. But Sarma said this issue will not be discussed now, indicating that the decision to break the alliance is final.
In January, 2016, BJP had stitched a pre-poll alliance with BPF and AGP riding on which the saffron party formed its first government in the state. The coalition was needed because BJP, though finshing as the single largest party, was three seats short of the halfway mark of 63 in the 126-member house.
On the partnership with AGP, Sarma said, “BJP and AGP will fight the assembly election together.” He added that the seat sharing between the two parties this time will be solely guided by the winning capability of the candidate, irrespective of his or her party affiliation.
“We will only allow those candidates from both parties to contest elections who will win the seats from their respective constituencies. We won’t let anyone contest the election whose image is not that good among people irrespective of which party he belongs to,” Sarma said.