Why winning Meghalaya election is so important for BJP

The BJP is confident of winning the Meghalaya Assembly elections scheduled on February 27.

Shillong, Feb 13: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) takes every election very seriously. Be it the upcoming Assembly polls in all-important Karnataka (the dates of which are yet to be announced) or in the three northeastern states--Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland, the BJP man and machinery are working overtime to win all the elections.

While Tripura Assembly polls are scheduled on February 18, Nagaland and Meghalaya are voting on February 27. The results of all the three Assembly elections will be out on March 3.

After adding 19 states to its kitty, the ruling BJP is confident of winning Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya elections too. Citing that all the three northeastern states are a major factor in the Look East Policy, the BJP is in full force in all these states.

On Monday, BJP MP from Bihar Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters in Shillong that no strength can stop the BJP from forming the next government in Meghalaya.

Rudy added that the BJP is ruling in 19 states in the country and it would add three more to its kitty shortly including Meghalaya. The former Union minister alleged that the previous governments in Meghalaya had not performed.

The Congress is ruling Meghalaya for the last 15 years and is facing anti-incumbency wave in the state. "Meghalaya will see the best infrastructure in the world once the BJP government is formed," said Rudy.

Like in the left bastion Tripura, the BJP is fighting polls in Meghalaya on the development plank.

Answering queries about allegations that the BJP is a communal party, Rudy mocked the incumbent Congress--a party which the saffron party calls "anti-development and corrupt".

"They (Congress) don't have a vote bank, they created vote bank by splitting society and they want to play that trick in Meghalaya and I think all the boundary of such statements will be surpassed in this election," he added.

BJP Meghalaya in-charge Nalin Kohli said that the party was sensitive towards the identity of the people in the different parts of the North East region including Meghalaya.

"Whatever needs to be done to protect the identity of these tribes and other communities that lives in the North East, this has always been raised (by the BJP). As rightly pointed out that it is the agenda of the government, so we are working with a positive agenda," he added.

Kohli said that the BJP-led North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) is not a political platform but is a developmental platform to bring development to the North East region.

"Those who are looking at the NEDA as a political platform to fight election, it is there incorrect way of looking at it. The NEDA brings people together to discuss the common vision of developing the NE. Political parties are entitled to have their own political agendas outside the NEDA not within the NEDA," he said.

In December last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Meghalaya as a part of the BJP's poll campaign. He is likely to visit the state soon. Congress president Rahul Gandhi was in Meghalaya for a two-day visit recently as a part of the party's poll campaign.

OneIndia News