Shah Visits Mizoram Today

Santanu Ghosh and Nilotpal Bhattacharjee

 Amit Shah

Silchar, Apr 16 : The BJP leaders and youth wing activists in Mizoram are giving final touches to preparations for a public meeting to be addressed by party president Amit Shah tomorrow.

Shah will arrive in Aizawl tomorrow on a two-day visit to bolster his party's set-up in the state where the BJP has had a minimal presence.

The venue, Vanapa Hall, is being prepared keeping in mind the large turnout of people from across the state, including the Chakma Autonomous District, where the party tasted its first electoral victory in the last two decades of its presence in the state in the last village council elections.

"The preparations are almost over. To avoid traffic problem, we have taken adequate steps for parking vehicles at various places and no vehicle will be allowed to go near the meeting place. Security has been beefed up to avoid any untoward incident," a party leader in charge of the preparations, said.

Shah is likely to be accompanied by BJP national secretary (organisation) Ram Lal, DoNER minister Jitendra Singh and BJP's Bengal observer Siddharth Nath Singh.

Besides addressing the meeting at 12.30pm, Shah will meet the party's office-bearers and functionaries in the state, sources said.

The BJP office in Aizawl said the party president could not visit Mizoram earlier because of various preoccupations, including polls in Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

A party insider said Shah would clarify the Mizos' doubts regarding freedom of religion, quick changing of governors and pledge his party's commitment to making Mizoram a model state.

The sources said Shah would also visit Nagaland, where the BJP is a part of the coalition government, and Manipur on Saturday.