GUWAHATI: Union home minister Amit Shah, who is the chairman of North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA), arrived here late on Friday night on a three-day visit during which he will launch the party’s final preparations for the 2021 assembly polls in Assam on Saturday.
This will be his second visit to a poll-bound state after his first to West Bengal last week. While BJP will take its first shot at power in West Bengal, it is aiming to retain power in Assam with more seats than it got five years back.
NEDA convenor and state cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, “Shah will formally launch BJP’s preparation for the 2021 assembly polls and will hold elaborate discussion with the newly elected core committee of BJP and will meet the newly elected members of Bodoland Territorial Council.”
Asked if former Congress minister Ajanta Neog will join BJP, Sarma said, “Till now she has not contacted BJP. There is no joining programme in Shah’s minute-to-minute itinerary.”
Himanta added, “Recently she met the chief minister regarding setting up an institution in her constituency. This has fuelled speculation that she is joining BJP. Now that Congress has expelled her, she may consider joining BJP, which is natural and if she desires to join BJP, we will welcome her.”
He added that Independent MLA of Ganshakti Bhuben Pegu and Congress MLA Rajdeep Gowla are likely to meet Shah.
As the NREDA chairman Shah will also meet the party’s allies — AGP, Tiwa Aikya Mancha, Rabha Joutha Sangram Samiti and Ganashakti. But, Bodoland People’s Front (BPF), the party’s biggest ally in 2016 assembly election has not been invited to the meeting.
Sarma said, “He (Shah) will only meet the delegation of 23 members of BTC led by CEM Pramod Boro. Our alliance with BPF is for five years till April. We cannot say what is in store in future after that.”
Buoyed by its recent victories in BTC and Tiwa council polls, BJP staged a grand road show for Shah where thousands of BJP workers formed human chains on both sides of the one-km stretch that was lit up by 10,000 earthen lamps from Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International airport to the national highway.
Also, cultural troupes of the state’s different ethnic groups also performed on the roadside to welcome the home minister.