Guwahati, Feb. 4: The Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) today said it was ready to accept the state government?s modified formula for reservation of seats in the proposed Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) for tribals and non-tribals.
BLT vice-chairman Kamal Muchahari today told The Telegraph that the rebel outfit was ready to accept the state Cabinet?s proposal regarding reservation of 30 seats for tribals and five for non-tribals. Five other seats would be kept open for all. Besides, six members are to be nominated to the proposed BTC body.
In a bid to salvage the Bodo peace talks, the state Cabinet last night decided to offer two options to the BLT on reservation of BTC seats.
The first option of reservation of 30 seats for tribals and 10 seats for non-tribals in the 40-member council has already been rejected by the BLT. The state Cabinet decided to propose a second option to constitute a 46-member council body of which 30 seats are to be reserved for tribals, five seats for non-tribals, five kept open and the remaining six members nominated by the state government.
The BLT leader said the outfit was yet to receive any communication from the state government and was waiting for the latter to come up with the new formula at the next round of tripartite talks, scheduled for Monday. The state government is likely to request the Centre to prepone the tripartite talks by a day.
On the vexed issue of inclusion of 93 additional villages demanded by the BLT, Muchahary said it has already been decided to constitute a tripartite committee to examine the matter and arrive at a consensus within three months.
The BLT leader was, however, quick to add that the issue of 93 villages would not be a hurdle in signing an accord with the Centre and the state government. The ceasefire between the Centre and the BLT, which was extended by a month, is due to expire on February 21. The BLT had threatened to call off the truce if the BTC was not created by this deadline.
During the last round of tripartite talks at New Delhi on January 19, the BLT rejected the state government?s formula of 30 seats for tribals and 10 for non-tribals and suggested an alternative structure of 25 seats for tribals, five for non-tribals and 10 seats to be kept open.
The state government, however, was rigid on its stand and turned down the BLT?s proposal.