Ahead of Shah's two-day visit, BJP Assam gets new 18-member core committee

Guwahati, August 28: Ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day Assam visit beginning Thursday, the BJP announced an 18-member new core committee of its Assam unit.

State BJP chief Dilip Saikia said the new core committee was announced with the approval of the party's national president JP Nadda.

Apart from Saikia, the other members of the committee are Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Pabitra Margherita, the party's national secretary Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, state ministers Ashok Singhal, Ranoj Pegu and Ranjeet Kumar Dass, and former state president Bhabesh Kalita.

Three state vice presidents of the party, Ashok Bhattarai, Rekharani Das Boro and Moon Swarnakar, and five general secretaries, GR Ravindra Raju, Diplu Ranjan Sarmah, Pallab Lochan Das, Rituparna Baruah and Anup Barman, are also in the core committee along with former MP Rajdeep Roy.

The special invitees to the committee are state BJP in-charge Harish Dwivedi, the party's Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra, and co-coordinator V Muralidharan.

The committee's primary role is to formulate strategy, ensure coordination at all levels, and mobilise the grassroots workers to consolidate the base.

Meanwhile, Shah will arrive in Guwahati today to take stock of the party's organisation ahead of the assembly elections, which would be due next year.

After reaching Guwahati, Shah will attend a meeting of the state BJP's core committee, and later have dinner with party members.

"He will discuss the preparation for the forthcoming Assam assembly elections. The home minister takes a keen interest in it. He, however, won’t be deliberating on the upcoming BTC elections since its local polls," Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Wednesday.

On Friday, Shah will inaugurate the newly-constructed Brahmaputra wing of the Raj Bhavan, followed by the inauguration of the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory and unveiling of various projects of ITBP, SSB and Assam Rifles.

Later in the day, he will also attend a convention of the newly elected panchayat members of the NDA. After that event, he will review the progress of the Jyoti Bishnu Cultural Complex, an auditorium with a seating capacity of 5,000 people.

In the evening, he will inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations of the state's first non-Congress chief minister, Golap Borbora, before leaving for New Delhi.

Earlier on Wednesday evening, with the upcoming BTC elections in focus, an organisational meeting was held at the BJP State Headquarters in Basistha, in the presence of Sarma and State President Dilip Saikia.

The meeting extensively reviewed the strategies and preparations to chart the path for the party's victory in the September Bodoland council polls.

The meeting was also attended by party's state in-charge Harish Dwivedi, State General Secretary (Organisation) Rabindra Raju, Ministers in-charge of the five districts under BTC, coordinators of the council constituencies, district presidents of BTC, and other dedicated party karyakartas entrusted with various responsibilities.

PTI