BJP to contest Assam polls with alliance partners; sets target to win 103 out of 126 seats

The Assam BJP will contest the upcoming state Assembly polls with its alliance partners, the party's core committee decided on Friday. The party also set a target for the alliance to win 103 out of the 126 seats. The core committeee meeting which was attended by BJP national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and state party president Dilip Saikia, also decided that the BJP would contest the elections on 'issues of all-round development of the state and core ideological commitments on which the party stands', a release issued later said. Currently, the ruling BJP has 64 MLAs, while its allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) has nine, the United People's Party, Liberal (UPPL) seven and the Bodo Peoples' Front (BPF) three. Before the meeting, the chief minister attended the concluding session of the meeting of the newly appointed coordinators and in-charges of all 126 assembly constituencies and discussed strategies for disseminating information about government initiatives and achievements among the public. Sarma said the state government will take strict measures to curb polygamy and what he described as love Jihad and land Jihad. The CM also vowed to continue the demolition of houses belonging to Bengali-speaking Muslims, whom he accused of illegally occupying government land, forest land, professional grazing reserve (PGR) and village grazing reserve (VGR) land, tribal belts, and satra lands. He also informed party workers that the government aims to reach a just and acceptable decision on granting tribal status to six communities in the coming assembly session after taking all stakeholders into confidence. B L Santhosh, who is on a two-day visit to Assam to discuss the strategy for the assembly polls in the state, participated in a series of party meetings since he arrived in Guwahati on Thursday. He outlined the organisational action plan, the poll strategy and set the target of winning every booth of the state. Santosh discussed the current political situation of Assam and provided various suggestions and guidance on creating a favourable public narrative for the party. He also assigned responsibilities and tasks to each functionary, the statement said. He also held a closed-door meeting with state president Dilip Saikia, general secretary (organisation) Rabindra Raju and state general secretaries. The meeting examined the organisational status of the party in Assam, the strength of booth-level structures, and prepared strategies to ensure 100 per cent victory, prioritising the party's core 103 constituencies, the party leader said. Santosh also held a meeting with the newly appointed coordinators and in-charges of each assembly constituency state and discussed preparations and programmes for each assembly segment. (With inputs from PTI)