Pramod Boro's UPPL To Go Solo In Assam Polls, No Tie-Up With NDA Or Congress

The United People's Party Liberal (UPPL), led by Pramod Boro, on Wednesday said it will contest the upcoming Assam Assembly elections independently.

The announcement came after Pramod Boro met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in New Delhi.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has retained the Bodoland People's Front (BPF) as its ally in the Bodoland region, which has 15 seats. As a result, the UPPL has been left out of the alliance, despite being a BJP ally in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Speaking to reporters, Boro said there has been "no change in circumstances", reiterating the party's earlier stand to go solo in the polls.

"We will contest all 15 seats in the BTC and four to five seats outside that. We have said this before as well. We were in the NDA, and since we are going to contest the elections, we have clarified that we will contest independently, not with the NDA," he said, effectively ruling out any tie-up with either the NDA or the Congress.

Sources said Amit Shah is believed to have urged Boro not to align with the Congress. They also indicated that discussions between the two leaders touched upon the implementation of the Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) Accord and Boro's recent nomination to the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has confirmed the BJP's seat-sharing arrangement with the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the BPF. Under the arrangement, the AGP will contest 26 seats, the BPF 11 seats, while the BJP will contest the remaining constituencies in the 126-member Assembly.