BJP steering poll with think tank in Delhi, control room in Guwahati
Assembly polls in 3 NE States
By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Jan 18: With think tank in Delhi and control room in Guwahati the BJP is going to steer the Assembly elections in Meghalaya, galand and Tripura going to be held in February this year.
Guwahati looks like a launch pad for the party in the region with the election control room for the region being set up here. The party leaders are going to control everything, including copter sorties and their destitions for poll-related matters, from the control room at Guwahati.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) made an announcement in New Delhi on Thursday that it is going to hold Assembly elections in three north-eastern States – Meghalaya, galand and Tripura – in February 2018. While Tripura is going to poll on February 18, Meghalaya and galand are going to poll on February 27.
The BJP is in the ruling coalition in galand. The party has its eyes set on rooting out the Congress from Meghalaya and the Left Front from Tripura. Party president Amit Shah has already addressed election rallies in Meghalaya and Tripura, and Prime Minister rendra Modi is likely to visit the region for election campaign from January 31, 2018. The degree of emphasis laid on the Assembly polls in the Northeastern states by the party can be gauzed from the fact that the party made North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) convener Himanta Biswa Sarma election in-charge in Tripura. What is to be seen is: if he can transform the political scerio in Tripura with a swish to the magic wand like former Congress leader from Assam Late Santosh Mohan Dev?
BJP Assam Pradesh organizatiol secretary Phanindra Sarma, who has been given the additiol charge of Tripura for the six months, has been given additiol charges of Meghalaya and galand. This is not all. A number of other top leaders of the party from Assam have been given important roles in Meghalaya, galand and Tripura.
Talking to this reporter, State BJP general secretary Dilip Saikia said: “Assam is the Gateway to the Northeast. For obvious reasons Guwahati is the epicentre of the party in the region. It’s possible to control the electioneering in other States in the region from Guwahati.”
Saikia further said: “Tripura being a Bengali-speaking State, we’ve deputed our Bengali-speaking and Hindi-speaking leaders in the State for election campaign. Our leaders have been working at booth and mandal levels in Tripura to tilt the electorate in our favour. Top BJP leaders from Assam, on the other hand, have been keeping in touch with party leaders in Meghalaya. Bokajan MLA Dr. Nomal Momin has been made party’s poll in-charge of some districts in Meghalaya. Big poll rallies in Meghalaya, Tripura and galand to be addressed by Amit Shah and the Prime Minister are in pipeline. Efforts are very much on to create waves of change in Meghalaya and Tripura as it was done in Assam in 2016.” Around 120 state and district BJP leaders, mostly from Barak Valley, have been working in Tripura at the booth level. Apart from them, around 80 trained bistaraks of the party have been running organizatiol works in the Left-ruled state.
Apart from Assam, the BJP has its government in Aruchal Pradesh and Manipur. Will the Saffron party make further inroads into the region? One has to wait till March 3 when votes to be polled will be counted.