BJP president Amit Shah will on Thursday begin his maiden visit to the eight northeastern states to strengthen the party organisation in the region, party leaders said on Tuesday."Between April 16 and April 28, Shah would visit the eight northeastern states in three phases and hold a series of meetings with party leaders and address public meetings," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national executive member Sudhindra Dasgupta told IANS.He said: "This would be the first extensive visit of any national BJP president to all the eight northeastern states."According to Shah's itinerary, he would arrive in Aizawl on a two-day trip on April 16 and would proceed to Nagaland the next day and then travel to Manipur on April 18.On April 19, Shah would return to New Delhi from Imphal and visit Sikkim on April 21. He is scheduled to visit Meghalaya the following day and Arunachal Pradesh on April 23. On April 24, he will proceed to Guwahati, from where he will fly to Rajasthan.
He will return to Guwahati on April 26 and arrive in Tripura on April 27 and return to New Delhi the next day.During the visit, Shah would elaborate the BJP-led NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government's plans and programmes for the region, Mizoram BJP unit vice president Chalngura Zahau said."The NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already announced its special consideration for the northeastern region by allocating thousands of crores, including railway and power projects," Zahau told reporters. Modi visited northeastern states in November-December last year.Of the eight northeastern states, the Congress is in power in Manipur, Mizoram, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya, the Communist Party of India-Marxist led Left Front in Tripura, regional parties -- Sikkim Democratic Front is at the helm of affairs in Sikkim, while Naga People's Front-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland (DAN) is in power in Nagaland. The BJP is an ally of the DAN.
The BJP's electoral success is on rise in the region, an area with 45.58 million people, of whom 28 percent are tribals.Of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from the region, in the 2014 general polls the BJP and its allies got 10 seats, the Congress secured eight seats, the CPI-M two seats, and remaining seats went to other local parties.The BJP, for the first time, secured a majority in five gram panchayats and won many seats in other gram panchayats and panchayat samitis last year in the Left-ruled Tripura.The BJP also fielded candidates in the polls to the tribal autonomous councils in Manipur (May 30) and Tripura (May 3).