Consult us before decisions on Assam, state BJP to Centre

GUWAHATI: The Assam unit of BJP has sent a clear signal to the Centre saying that party leaders and MPs should be consulted before taking decisions concerning the state.
This stand of the party unit came after the embarrassment it had to face following the Centre's recent decision to go ahead with the construction of the 2000-MW Lower Subansiri project in neighbouring Arunachal Pradesh.
Though the Centre, later, decided not to carry on with the construction, sources said the state BJP leaders told all-India chief for morchas and cells Mahendra Pandey that the damage was already done.
On Sunday, Pandey took feedback from the state on Narendra Modi government's completion of one month. Pandey also had a meeting with state BJP office-bearers where the issues concerning large dams in Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan, checking infiltration from Bangladesh and updating National Register for Citizens (NRC) were raised.
Sources said during a meeting with Pandey, the leaders told him that as BJP was opposing the Subansiri project, the Centre should have consulted the state unit of the party or MPs before giving the nod to resume construction.
"BJP is growing in strength in the state. People should not take the party in the negative sense in deciding policies concerning the state," said a BJP leader.
Work on the 2000-MW power project at Gerukamukh in Arunachal Pradesh has been stalled since 2011 following stiff agitation by anti-dam organizations in Assam. The state unit of the party took a stand against the project for its possible environmental impact on downstream Assam. In 2010, Rajnath Singh also spoke against the Lower Subansiri project at a public meeting in Dhemaji district's Gogamukh.
"We are happy that the Union minister of state for power Piyush Goyal, later, said there will be no construction before talks with stakeholders from Assam. But the damage was already done by the first decision to go ahead with the construction," a BJP source said.
They also told Pandey that even Modi's foundation laying for a 600-MW power station in Bhutan last month was not taken with enthusiasm by the people in Lower Assam districts because they were already affected by the impact of existing power projects in the Himalayan country.
The state BJP leaders made it known that people in the state are looking forward to BJP fulfilling promises made ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, especially stopping influx from Bangladesh and updating the NRC.