BJP hopes to milk ‘anti-incumbency’

Guwahati: The anti-incumbency factor will weigh heavily against the ruling Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) in next month’s election to the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC), said BJP and added that this would help the saffron party win people’s trust.
Buoyed after prominent Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) leaders joined BJP recently, the party said the atmosphere in BTC is in its favour and people want a change.“People in BTC are seeking development. The BTC is a vast area with little development. The BJP is in power at the Centre, so our party can do a lot to usher progress in the area,” senior BJP leader and chief coordinator of the BTC election, C K Das, said.
After its success in the last Lok Sabha election and the recently-concluded polls to urban local bodies in the state, BJP is gearing up for the BTC election on April 8. Ironically, the Bodo Accord that led to the formation of BTC under the Sixth Schedule was signed when the BJP-led NDA was in power in 2003.
The saffron party will contest all 40 seats in the BTC.
Though BJP has not been able to make much headway in the BTC since the election in 2005, Das said the party is confident of putting up a good performance.
Party leaders said the anti-incumbency factor has become stronger after two terms of BPF rule, headed by former militant-turned-politician Hagrama Mohilary. Mohilary is the chief of the BTC.
Political observers said the April 8 election would be a tough one with BPF, Congress, BJP and non-Bodo-backed candidates in the fray. Years of clashes have sharply divided the region’s communities on ethnic lines and observers said the factor would also play a role in the upcoming election.