NEW DELHI, March 20 � With an eye on consolidating its base in the North-east, BJP national president Amit Shah will undertake a 10-day tour of the region from April 16, party sources said.
The decision was arrived at a meeting of the party officer-bearers of the North Eastern States, including Assam, at its headquarters on Thursday evening. The meeting, joined by top leaders of the party, including general secretaries Ram Lal and Ram Madhav, finalised the tour in consultation with the State office-bearers, said sources.
Shah is scheduled to spend two days in Assam on April 25 and 26, mainly reviewing the party�s election preparedness. Assam goes to polls in 2016 and buoyed by its recent success, the State leaders are pressing for a bullish approach, said sources.
Assam BJP president Siddhartha Bhattacharyya, Union Ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Kiren Rijiju, besides MPs, attended the meeting.
Sources said the BJP national president has directed the State units of North-east to prepare memos about corruption charges against the State government, particularly against the Congress-ruled States. However, Shah asked the State units to prepare chargesheets with specific charges.
Sources said though the issue of alliance did not figure in the deliberations yesterday, the BJP is likely to have poll tie-up with only one Bodo political party. �Preliminary discussion with both BPF and BPPF are on and we will finally opt for one of the two factions.�
While BPF snapped its alliance with the ruling Congress in the State, the BJP currently has an alliance with BPPF.
Asked about the possibility of BJP making an alliance with AGP, a BJP leader ruled it out stating that the regional party�s popularity graph has taken a nose dive and it would not be of any help to the national party.
Meanwhile, a section of the BJP MPs are peeved with the State president for raking up the Subramanian Swamy episode too much. �We have requested him not to go overboard but he is not heeding our pleas,� sources said.
Bhattacharyya on Thursday formally lodged a complaint with the national leadership against Swamy, requesting them to restraint him. Bhattacharyya reportedly told the central leadership that Swamy�s remarks have landed the State BJP in an embarrassing position in the State.
