Gogoi's former right hand man to join BJP as RSS quietly moves into Assam

With the election for the Assam Assembly due in April next year, the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh has also quietly shifted its focus to the state to help BJP win a ruling majority in Dispur, the state’s capital complex.

The BJP is upbeat over its chances in the state as it won seven Lok Sabha seats in the last parliamentary polls wiping out the Congress domination for the first time, which won a meager three. The RSS began its focus in the country’s North East, particularly Assam, soon after the conclusion of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir.

“RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal, an expert on the region and pointsperson for BJP , is spearheading the strategy. RSS feels that BJP can wrest the state from Congress control when Assam goes to the polls in 2016."—a report in The Economic Times said.

The organisation is also likely to send BJP general secretary and RSS leader Ram Madhav to strengthen the saffron party’s chances in the state. Assam has a total of 126 seats in the Assembly.

Meanwhile in a move that will further strengthen the BJP and RSS plans, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi’s former right-hand man and cabinet minister Himanta Biswas Sarma will in all likelihood quit Congress next month to be inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party by its chief Amit Shah.

Rumours that Sarma was preparing to join the BJPwere already afoot, but his alleged involvement in the Saradha chitfund scam and subsequent questioning by the CBI delayed the process due to unhappiness among local cadres.

“Scam accused Sarma’s impending entry into the party has not gone down with the local party cadres. It has been put on hold. However, he is likely to be inducted in the party next month, when Amit Shah visits the state,” a senior BJP leader told The Economic Times .