Guwahati, August 28: Ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s two-day visit to Assam beginning Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has reconstituted its state core committee with 18 key members to steer organisational strategy and strengthen grassroots mobilisation.

State BJP president Dilip Saikia, announcing the development, said the committee was approved by the party’s national president JP Nadda. The panel includes Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Union ministers Sarbananda Sonowal and Pabitra Margherita, national secretary Kamakhya Prasad Tasa, and state ministers Ashok Singhal, Ranoj Pegu and Ranjeet Kumar Dass. Former state president Bhabesh Kalita is also part of the team.

The committee further comprises three vice presidents—Ashok Bhattarai, Rekharani Das Boro, and Moon Swarnakar—and five general secretaries, including GR Ravindra Raju, Diplu Ranjan Sarmah, Pallab Lochan Das, Rituparna Baruah and Anup Barman. Former MP Rajdeep Roy has also been inducted.

Special invitees to the core committee include state BJP in-charge Harish Dwivedi, party’s Northeast coordinator Sambit Patra, and co-coordinator V. Muralidharan. The committee’s primary task will be to formulate strategy, ensure coordination at all levels, and mobilise grassroots workers in the run-up to the Assam Assembly elections next year.

Meanwhile, Shah is scheduled to arrive in Guwahati on Thursday to review the party’s organisational preparedness. He will attend a meeting of the newly formed core committee and later dine with state party leaders. “The home minister will focus on preparations for the upcoming Assembly elections, though he will not deliberate on the BTC polls as they are local body elections,” Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

On Friday, Shah will inaugurate the newly constructed Brahmaputra wing of Raj Bhavan, the National Cyber Forensic Laboratory, and several projects of ITBP, SSB, and Assam Rifles. He will also attend a convention of newly elected NDA panchayat members, review progress of the Jyoti Bishnu Cultural Complex, and inaugurate the birth centenary celebrations of former Assam chief minister Golap Borbora before returning to New Delhi.

The BJP, meanwhile, has already begun intensive organisational meetings, particularly with an eye on the September Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) elections, where strategies and responsibilities for district and constituency-level leaders have been extensively reviewed.