Shillong: Confident of forming the government in Tripura, BJP also hopes to make an impressive opening in another hill state of Meghalaya. The top brass of BJP, including president Amit Shah, defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kiren Rijiju have been carrying out a hectic campaign in the state.
Identifying a large number of migrant voters in urban areas, several Poorvanchali leaders like Manoj Tiwari and Rajiv Pratap Rudy have also been making rounds of Meghalaya.
Polling for 60 assembly seats of Meghalaya will be held on February 27 and counting of votes will take place on March 3. The BJP, which is contesting on 47 of the 60 seats in the state, hopes to unseat the Mukul Sangma government, ruling for nearly 10 years now.
With over 75 per cent of Meghalaya’s population Christians, BJP has prominently placed union tourism minister K Alphons in the state. Posters and hoardings showing Mr Alphons with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr Shah have been put across the state with a tagline of “Time For Change, Time For BJP”.
BJP and its leadership is going all out to woo voters on development with an increase of Central assistance.
“Meghalaya was allotted Rs 5,817 crore under the 13th Finance Commission by the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre whereas the BJP-led NDA government has allotted Rs 25,400 crore to Meghalaya under the 14th Finance Commission,” Mr Shah had said. while addressing a rally at Malki ground on Friday.
Several senior leaders, including Union minister arriving Meghalaya to seek votes for party candidates. Mr Rudy addressed the gathering during Mr Shah’s rally at Malki ground, the area with significant voters from Poorvanchal. Mr Tiwari, Bhojpuri superstar, had a special interactive meeting with voters from Poorvanchal. Five urban seats surrounding state capital Shillong, have sizeable population of migrants from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. “There are 40,000 voters from Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh, which hold key in five assembly seats. Along with local people, they will vote for a change to help BJP form the next government,” Mr Tiwari told this newspaper.
