Taking charge as the president of the Assam unit of the BJP for the second time, Ranjeet Kumar Dass on Saturday said the party is sure that it will win more than 100 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls despite the ongoing protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), 2019.

“The BJP does not only work for politics, it works for other social issues as well. This year, we will work with full force so that even after the 2021 elections we stay in power. Our members and supporters will have to work with full efforts to make our future plans successful,” he said.

Dass said the new generation will decide the future of Assam and he was hopeful that the people of Assam, in the interest of protecting jati, mati and bheti (community, land and base), would vote in favour of the BJP and its allies so that it can form the government again in 2021.

He claimed that the people would vote for the BJP in the greater interests of Assam and the Assamese culture.

“The BJP and its allies will score 100-plus seats in the 2021 elections. We did contest panchayat elections separately but in the Assembly polls we will form an alliance with the BPF, the AGP and other regional parties. We have never deceived or cheated the people and so they will bring us back to power,” he said, adding that if the party wants to achieve its goals, then party legislators and workers will have to work very hard.

He said CAA protests would not affect the party as the people have now understood that everything said regarding CAA by some people were just rumours. He said the Assam BJP would now focus on increasing its present state membership of 42 lakh.

The 1965-born Dass is the party’s key leader in lower Assam. He joined the BJP in 1992 and was first elected to the Assembly in 2011. He remained the Speaker for about seven months before being elected as the state president on December 25, 2016, succeeding chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal.

The party headquarters was given a facelift with new paint and furniture to celebrate Dass’ election as party president for a second term. He was elected unopposed. He was greeted by hundreds of party workers and public representatives of the BJP with gamosas and flowers.

The workers celebrated his new term by distributing jalebis (sweets) among those present.