Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) on Tuesday got a new chief 17 years after it was created as an alternative to the Bodoland Statehood movement.
Pramod Boro, the former president of the All Bodo Students’ Union, was sworn in as the chief executive member (CEM) of the BTC. He replaced Hagrama Mohilary, chief of the Bodoland People’s Front (BPF) that ruled the council from February 2003 till its dissolution in April this year.
Mr. Boro is the president of the United People’s Party Liberal (UPPL), which tied up with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Gana Suraksha Party (GSP) after the polls to form the 40-member council.
The UPPL’s Gobinda Basumatary, who headed one of the factions of the now-disbanded National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB), took oath of office as the Deputy CEM.
Gautam Das and Diganta Baruah of the BJP and Ghanashyam Das of the GSP were also sworn in as members of the council in presence of Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
The BPF, which is an ally of the BJP at the State-level, had emerged as the single largest party in the two-phase BTC elections held by winning 17 seats, four short of majority. The UPPL-BJP-GSP combine bagged 22 seats, with Mr. Boro winning two of them.
The alliance’s count increased to 23 after the lone elected member of the Congress defected to the BJP on Monday.
Mr. Boro, as a student leader, had led the movement for carving a Bodoland State out of Assam for more than a decade. He ended the agitation after signing the Bodoland Territorial Region peace accord in January along with some key leaders of the NDFB.
“Our effort would be to live up to the expectations of the people for bringing about a change in society,” he said after taking oath.
