Feb. 8: Railway minister Nitish Kumar today guided the National Democratic Alliance?s pre-poll gravy train into Assam, setting the pace for a whirlwind BJP campaign that includes plans for eight star-spangled rallies in the state and 15 throughout the Northeast in just 10 days.
Accompanied by defence minister George Fernandes and food and consumer affairs minister Sharad Yadav, Kumar flagged off work on two rail projects ? restoration and gauge conversion from Haibargaon to Moirabari and Senchowa to Silghat, both in Nagaon district.
The inauguration of the twin projects, estimated to cost Rs 105 crore, was done at Rupohigaon, 10 km from Nagaon town.
Train services on both metre-gauge routes were suspended in 1995 and the tracks were removed in 2001. Residents of the district and the Tarun Gogoi government have since been demanding that the tracks be relaid.
The decision to restore the tracks now is, however, seen as little more than a pre-election sop.
After inaugurating the twin projects, Kumar announced that Delhi would reserve 40 per cent of the job vacancies in the railways for resident candidates. The assurance, however, fell far short of the 100 per cent job-reservation clause demanded by various youth organisations.
Over 50 Hindi-speaking people were killed and hundreds hounded out of the state after rail passengers from the Northeast were attacked in Bihar, ostensibly because candidates for railway jobs from that state were assaulted when they visited Assam for a recruitment test.
The railway minister said ?people with vested interests? provoked last year?s anti-Bihari backlash and tried to malign his image.
Several BJP top guns, including Murli Manohar Joshi, Narendra Modi, Rajnath Singh and Arun Shourie, are expected to visit Assam over the next couple of weeks to continue the campaign.
The BJP last night fine-tuned its poll strategy for the Northeast, lining up as many as 15 rallies in the region between February 15 and 25..
Assam BJP president Indramoni Borah said two ?intellectual conclaves? were being planned in Guwahati and Silchar.
He said Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and his deputy L.K. Advani could lead the line-up of star campaigners.
Arunachal Pradesh BJP general secretary Khiren Rijiju described the poll strategy as one designed to blow the Opposition away. He said the party would have a separate manifesto for the Northeast.
?Development, Vajpayee?s leadership and our vision of a strong India are going to be highlighted during our campaign. Details of our programme will be chalked out within a couple of days. We have already begun the process of constituting election committees for selection of candidates.?
The BJP?s election strategy for the Northeast was finalised during a meeting of the core committee of the region at the New Delhi residence of party president M. Venkaiah Naidu.
Over 20 representatives of the seven states of the region and Sikkim participated in the discussions. Former Union minister Kabindra Purkayastha and Union minister of state Bijoya Chakraborty, both from Assam, attended the meeting.
The delegates from Assam and Arunachal Pradesh said the BJP units of their states wanted to go it alone in the Lok Sabha poll, while the rest said the door had been kept open for alliances with like-minded parties.
?The discussions centred on alliances and campaigning. It was almost decided that the BJP would go it alone in Arunachal Pradesh,? Rijiju said.