RSS, BJP leaders meet to deliberate on elections in three NE states

NEWDELHI: With an eye on bagging three more states in the Northeast, the BJP and its ideological fount RSS on Sunday drew up the roadmap for the upcoming assembly polls in Nagaland, Tripura and Meghalaya.

The meeting, which took place at the residence of Union home minister Rajnath Singh, had senior party and Sangh leaders in attendance to chalk out plans to wrest the communist bastion of Tripura and Congress-ruled Meghalaya and win Nagaland where the BJP is a coalition partner of ruling Naga People’s Front.

A person familiar with the development said the BJP will go to polls on the development agenda of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has been pushing for building bridges between the people in the region and the Mainland.

The RSS, which helped the BJP get a foothold in the region by doing the groundwork for it in Assam and Manipur, has now set its sights on winning the three states. On Sunday, RSS general secretary Krishna Gopal was present for the meeting to chalk out a strategy for the polls.

RSS has been actively pursuing the tribal leaders in the region to join hands with the BJP. Senior Sangh functionaries are helming the campaign.

On January 21, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will address a congregation of Sangh cadres in Guwahati. This comes close on the heels of his earlier visit to Agartala in December.

Senior Sangh representatives that HT spoke to said the RSS, through its affiliates, was laying the ground for the BJP to overthrow the Manik Sarkar government in Tripura. It has been working to build bridges with tribal outfits in Nagaland and local parties in Meghalaya.

“There is a feeling of alienation among many tribal people in the region... We don’t ask people to vote for the BJP, but we do point out that people must recognise which mainstream party looks after their best interest,” said an RSS functionary from the region.