NEW DELHI: Chairman of the
North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), the alliance of regional parties headed by
BJP,
Himanta Biswa Sarma, and Union minister
Kiren Rijiju have been appointed as the party's election in-charge for assembly polls in Tripura and Nagaland respectively.
A senior minister in Assam, Sarma's latest responsibility signals his growing clout in the region's politics as he was credited with the first full-fledged BJP government in the North-East.
Assembly elections in the two states besides Meghalaya are due early next year. High on BJP's agenda is Tripura where it is working overtime to dethrone the Left Front government.
For long, BJP has been a marginal force in these two states but made rapid strides in the region since it came to power at the Centre in 2014 and
Amit Shah took charge of the party.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi and Shah are likely to be the key campaigners for BJP as the two leaders are scheduled to visit the poll-bound states even before the election schedule is announced.
The party's national general secretary
Ram Madhav, who is in charge for the north east states, has been camping in the region and was instrumental in stitching together a strong alliance.
