Ravi Shankar Prasad, Himanta Biswa Sarma lead BJP efforts to win 20 Lok Sabha seats in Northeast

GUWAHATI: Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma will spearhead BJP’s efforts to win at least 20 Lok Sabha seats from the Northeast in 2019, including 13 held by Opposition parties.

BJP president Amit Shah has drawn up big plans for the eight states of Northeast India. The BJP had floated a platform of non-Congress parties, the Northeast Democratic Alliance with a roadmap to increase its seats from the region. Northeast India, including Sikkim, sends 25 MPs to the Lok Sabha. In 2014, the NDA won 11 seats from the region — on its own, the BJP won seven in Assam and one in Arunachal Pradesh, while allies Naga Peoples Front, Sikkim Democratic Front and National People’s Party got one each. Prasad recently visited Assam to make a spot assessment of the political situation.

He is being made in charge of five Lok Sabha seats in Assam. In 2014, the Congress won three seats (Silchar, Autonomous districts and Koliabor) in Assam, while the All India United Democratic Front got Barpeta, Dhubri and Karimganj. The Kokrajhar seat went to an independent candidate. The Congress won one seat each in Meghalaya, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and two in Manipur, while the Left Front got both the seats in Tripura.