With three days remaining for the Meghalaya and Nagaland Assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold address election rallies in both states on Friday.
While he will participate in a roadshow and an election rally in Tura in western Meghalaya on Friday, Modi will also speak at an election meeting at Chumoukedima in Nagaland.
Both Nagaland and Meghalaya will go to the polls on February 27 and the votes will be counted on March 2.
BJP in Meghalaya
The saffron party has fielded candidates in all 60 seats in Meghalaya. The BJP was a part of the ruling NPP-led coalition in the state in 2018, but later ended the alliance.
According to BJP Meghalaya president Ernest Mawrie, Modi will participate in a roadshow in the Khyndailad area and will address the people after paying floral tributes to three freedom fighters of the state U Tirot Sing, U Kiang Nangbah and Pa Togan Sangma at 11 am. He will then head to Tura in the West Garo Hills district, where he will address a rally at the BCCI-funded Alotgre stadium.
Though the Prime Minister's initial plan also included speaking at an election rally in PA Sangma Sports Complex funded by the Centre at a cost of over Rs 120 crore, the sports department had denied permission citing safety concerns.
According to Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP severed its ties with the NPP to contest elections in all 60 seats and provide Meghalaya with a corruption-free government and take the state towards development.
The party has also pitted BJP state vice president Bernard Marak against Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma from the South Tura constituency. "To have the PM campaign in my constituency is a blessing. That he is coming to Tura itself will augur well for the party as it indicates how seriously the BJP is taking this election. Everyone in Garo Hills is excited about his visit," Marak told about Modi's visit.
Coalition partner in Nagaland
In Nagaland, the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) and BJP are contesting the poll on a 40-20 seat-sharing formula. Modi's visit to Nagaland a day before the end of public campaigning is expected to boost the chances of the alliance in Nagaland.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, BJP's face in North East, said visits by important BJP leaders to the poll-bound state shows the party’s concern for Nagaland’s future and its relation with the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party.
Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah too had participated in multiple poll rallies in the state, wooing voters. In a rally held earlier this week, Shah had asserted that Naga peace talks are underway and hoped that the initiative taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring lasting peace in the northeastern state will bear fruit.
"There was an insurgency in Nagaland before 2014... We started the peace process. I am hopeful that the initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bear fruit in bringing lasting peace in the state with the preservation of Naga culture, language and tradition," he said.
Eastern Nagaland People's Organisation (ENPO), the apex tribal body in the region, had called for a boycott of the assembly elections over their 'Frontier Nagaland' separate statehood demand.
"The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has held discussions with ENPO and an 'agreed agreement' has been reached. But we could not materialise it due to the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct," he said.
