BJP to face Lok Sabha polls with AGP in Assam

New Delhi, Sep 4 (UNI) The Core Group of the BJP today decided to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections along with Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and appointed a two-member panel consisting of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh and his Deputy Sushma Swaraj to work out the modalities between the two parties.

Talking to newspersons after the meeting senior leader M Venkaiah Naidu handling the Election Management Committee said the leadership was of the view that there should be no split in the non-Congress votes and the party welcomed the AGP's proposal to face the elections together. The meeting apprised itself about the political scenario, poll preparedness with Assam BJP President.

The AGP has set up a six-member panel to negotiate with other likeminded parties and Mr Singh and Mrs Swaraj would now have interaction with this panel.

The situation for BJP in Assam is favourable and the NDA alliance with a non-performing Congress government in place. "We can hope to win a good number of seats contributing to the NDA kitty", Mr Naidu said.

The BJP leaders also expressed concern about the flood situation in Assam and Leader of Opposition L K Advani would pay a visit to the flood affected regions. The party is also gearing up to extend support to its Assam unit and NGOs to extend help to the needy people like it was doing in the case of Bihar flood victims.

The Core Committee would interact with the leadership of the state BJP in the coming month to get a feeling of the happenings in the ground level. The meeting would assess the situation in Jharkhand this evening.

Tomorrow, the party had lined up discussions on the states of Haryana and Maharashtra while Punjab discussions would take place the day after.

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