As the campaign for coming elections in the North-Eastern States — Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland- picks up momentum, BJP and RSS leaders on Sunday held consultations at the residence of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
The BJ, which is hopeful of giving a tough fight to the Manik Sarkar-led-Left Front Government, is looking forward to a tie-up with a Indigenous Peoples’ Front of Tripura (IPTF) , an influential tribal party in the State. The PTF has already announced support for the BJP.
Though the IPFT has demanded a separate state for tribals, the BJP leadership has made it clear that it could agree to autonomy to them.
Besides Rajnath, Krishna Gopal, a senior RSS functionary, and BJP general secretary Ram Madhav were among the leaders present at the meeting. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval also reportedly attended the meeting.
The BJP leaders discussed political situation in the three States as also the poll preparations by the party, sources said.
The Union Home Minister had recently assured it of forming a high-powered committee to look into their demands aimed at protecting and promoting socio-economic and cultural interests of the State’s indigenous population.
IPFT president NC Debbarma had on Thursday announced a tie-up with the BJP for the polls. The BJP is yet to make an announcement.
Debbarma had said his party would keep the separate state demand in abeyance for now as the Centre had agreed to examine their problems and take corrective measures.
In Meghalaya and Nagaland, two Christian-majority states, the BJP hopes to put up a good performance, especially in the former, where the Congress is in power.