Bodo shocker for Cong

With ruling party till now,BPF a key player says will back AGP-BJP if need arises.

All is not well with the Congress in Assam. As the state heads for the second phase of the Assembly polls on Monday,the Bodoland Peoples Front (BPF),a partner in the Tarun Gogoi-led government,has said it is willing to shift sides in the post-poll scenario and join hands with the AGP and BJP if the need arises.

We may have had shared power with the Congress in the past five years. But,while no party can form the net government without our support,if required we will not hesitate to support the AGP or BJP in forming a stable government, Hagrama Mohilary,president of the BPF,said here on Sunday.

Interestingly,despite being partners in the outgoing government,the Congress has fielded candidates against the BPF in all the eleven constituencies within the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) that it had won in 2006. The Congress has no business in the BTC. I dont know why they are contesting here, Mohilary said.

Mohilary,who claimed he was not a fortune-teller,also said he was sure the Congress had not done well in the 62 seats in the first phase. I dont expect it to perform any miracle in the second phase, Mohilary said. The Congress,which in 2006 had won 38 of the first phase seats,had won only 15 in lower Assam.

But,while stable government is one issue,what Mohilary appears to be more concerned is the growing clout of Badruddin Ajmals All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) in state politics.

We cannot allow Ajmal to take part in forming a government, said Mohilary.

The Bodo leader,whose party with 11 MLAs had provided vital support to the Congress when it won only 53 seats in 2006,also claimed that his party would win at least 16 seats this time.

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We are going to be the deciding factor, Mohilary said.

If such a situation arises,we wont hesitate to support a combination of the AGP and BJP in order to form a stable government, the BPF chief said.

Mohilary,who was chairman of the erstwhile underground outfit Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT),is currently chairman of the Bodoland Territorial Council.

Mohilary,who had three ministers in the Gogoi government,also appeared sore with the Congress on two other counts.

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The state government always delayed in releasing funds from the Rs 750-crore package that the Centre gave for the Council. Moreover,our demand for transferring the relief and rehabilitation department to the BTC remained unheeded, Mohilary said.

This time,whichever party forms the government,we will raise our demands more loudly, the BPF chief said.

The Congress,which apparently did not fare well in the first phase of elections on April 4, faces an uphill task of taking its tally up from the 18 seats it had won in 2006 among the 64 seats it is contesting in second phase.

While the BPF has said that the Congress has no business in the four Bodoland districts of Kokrajhar,Udalguri,Chirang and Baksa,the AGP looks like it may gain in the second phase.

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The regional party,which had won 17 seats out of the 64 in 2006,is on a stronger wicket this time round. The AIUDF too has a strong presence,especially in Nagaon and Dhubri.

While AIUDF supremo Badruddin Ajmal is sitting Lok Sabha member from Dhubri,his Parliamentary constituency has 10 Assembly segments in which he has every possibility of winning more seats than last time (2) at the cost of the Congress.

No doubt the Congress flew in a galaxy of star campaigners last week in a last-minute effort to whip up vital support for its candidates in the second phase.