It is going to be a power-packed weekend for the northeast with two political heavyweights in poll-bound Meghalaya and Tripura. While union home minister Amit Shah arrived in Shillong for the North East Council (NEC) meeting on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be taking part in the golden jubilee celebrations of the council on Sunday.
On Saturday, Shah arrived in the Meghalaya capital and planted a tree at Raj Bhavan later in the evening. Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma also accompanied him. The home minister will be attending the NEC meeting, which will be chaired by the prime minister.
In Shillong, Prime Minister Modi will take part in the golden jubilee celebration of the NEC and attend a council meeting at 10.30 am at the State Convention Centre in Shillong. Thereafter, around 11.30 am, he will inaugurate, dedicate and lay the foundation stone of multiple projects at a public function at the Polo Grounds.
He will then move onto Tripura capital Agartala, where he scheduled to address a public function around 2.45 pm. He will launch projects worth Rs 6,800 crore in the two northeastern hill states, where assembly elections are likely to take place in February 2023.
It is highly significant that PM Modi and Shah are jointly attending the golden jubilee celebrations of the NEC. The BJP is quite serious about strengthening its presence in three northeastern states — Meghalaya, Tripura and Nagaland — all of which will be going to polls next year.
Though the two leaders will not be going to Nagaland, sources said BJP leaders from the state will be visiting Meghalaya to meet Modi and Shah. The two leaders will also be meeting important leaders in the northeast and party workers, said sources in the BJP
In Tripura, Modi will launch ‘Griha Pravesh’ programme, which is likely to provide homes to two lakh people beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awaz Yojana, urban and rural. In Meghalaya, he will inaugurate the IIM Shillong campus as well.
The BJP is in power in Tripura and changed its chief minister in the state only six months ago when Biplab Deb was replaced by Manik Saha. The biggest discussion point is if this change will help the saffron party in Tripura. Party insiders said the focus on the northeast by Modi and Shah was such that it will help boost party cadre on the ground.
Experts said the BJP will be put more emphasis on these three northeastern states as the results will have ramifications for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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