Guwahati: After getting interim bail from the Gauhati High Court, National Democratic Front of Bodoland (R) chairman Ranjan Daimary, who was serving life imprisonment in the 2008 serial bomb blasts case, is all set to join the ongoing peace process to sign a new Bodo accord in New Delhi soon.

Sources in the Union home ministry informed EastMojo that the new Bodo peace accord, also involving all groups of the NDFB, will be signed probably in the first week of February this year.

Daimary got an interim bail for four weeks as his lawyer moved a petition seeking his release, which was not opposed by legal advisers of both the Centre and the state government in the interest of the peace process.

Sources in the home ministry informed EastMojo that the Centre wants to sign a new Bodo accord with the support from all stakeholders, including all factions of the insurgent groups, especially NDFB, civil society members, student bodies, literary organisations, etc.

Representatives from NDFB (R), NDFB (S), Bodo Sahitya Sabha and All Bodo Students’ Union (ABSU) have been meeting Centre-approved interlocutor AB Mathur separately during the last couple of days.

Within a week of signing a suspension of operations (SoO) agreement by the Saoraigwra faction of the NDFB with the Centre, over 600 rebels of the insurgent group, including leaders like B Saoraigwra, G Bidai and K Batha came out from undisclosed camps along India-Bhutan border in Assam's Kokrajhar district recently. NDFB-S is one of the few major insurgent groups active in Assam.

The development assumes significance as the Assam government organised an arms-laying down ceremony by members of militant outfits at the Gauhati Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) Auditorium in Guwahati.

Meanwhile, Assam government spokesperson and senior minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced that groundwork is being prepared to sign a new Bodo accord soon. He, however, refuted media reports that the new Bodo accord will affect the present structure of the state.

“Prime Minister Modiji and Union home minister Amit Shahji have shared with the state government that the new Bodo accord is not going to affect the present structure of Assam. However, the new accord will help to strengthen the territorial integrity of the state,” Sarma said.

Meanwhile, the NDFB-S has reshuffled its “national council” members unanimously in the general meeting held on January 20, 2020, in the designated camp, Diglipara, Kokrajhar, BTC (Assam).

B Saoraigwra has been appointed as president while G Bidai and BR Ferengga have also been appointed as vice president and general secretary respectively. Altogether 21 members have been appointed as the national council members of the outfit.